Watching Avengers Infinity War
by SkylarkStark
Summary: Sometime after the Chitauri Invasion but before SHIELD's fall, the Avengers and Nick Fury are transported to a movie theatre. With no sign of how they got there, five others and a racoon, they are all given the ominous warning that the future of their universe depends on how well they watch a certain movie… Rated T for mild swearing.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: *Looks at reviews from the last version* *blinks in surprise* Well then... That support was unexpected. Hopefully, this version will be better and equally as entertaining. Again, I don't have a beta-reader so please point out any mistakes._ _Also, technically speaking, this is not an MST story, rather, I have given brief descriptions of the event and sometimes dialogue with reactions inserted within them._

 _And yes, for the first few chapters, a lot of reactions will be familiar if you read the last version (maybe. At the writing of this I've only written the first chapter,) but everything from Guardians introduction and onwards will be original reactions. I apologise for any major similarities to other fanfics that are like this one._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own "The Avengers", "Guardians of the Galaxy" or "Avengers: Infinity War"; They belong to Marvel, Marvel Studios, Disney and their respective creators._

* * *

Natasha sat up, rubbing her head in an attempt to relieve the pain that was quickly disappearing. _What happened?_ She thought, eyes still screwed shut. The last thing she remembered was getting ready to spar with Clint and then…

Forcing her eyes open, the spy immediately noticed took in where she was and who was with her. The other five Avengers, Fury, two Africans, a man wearing a blue tunic, a teenager and a human with no particular outstanding feature. She got up wearily, briefly taking in her surroundings while the other nine people regained conscious.

"Where… Where are we?" Tony groaned, being the last Avenger to open his eyes.

Fury and Clint help Natasha look around for an exit, but to no success. They couldn't even find a vent, despite the slightly cool, air-conditioned air in the room.

"It appears to be a movie theatre," Natasha said as they made their way back.

The theatre had seating for fifty people; five rows with ten seats each. About twenty metres away from the front row, a massive screen—probably used for IMAX—took up the wall. Everyone was currently in the space between the screen and seats.

They looked around confused, also taking in the other people with them.

"I think we should wake them up," Bruce suggested.

"And what if they're a threat?" Fury said.

"Well, what's the worst that could happen? We've got no weapons and they don't either. Hopefully," Tony replied, nonchalantly.

But they needn't have worried; The others were already waking up. First, it was the two Africans who caught the Avengers off guard.

"Mzalwana, yintoni... Siphi thina?" Shuri asked.

T'Challa looked around and upon noticing the Avengers, he put a protective hand on his sister's shoulder. "Wait, Captain?'

Steve looked at him oddly. "You talking to me?" After a nod of confirmation, he continued. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

This time it was T'Challa's turn to look confused. Even Shuri couldn't hide her surprise.

"He's T'Challa…" Shuri said.

"The heir to the Wakandan throne," Fury clarified.

"He's not the heir…" She noticed the warning look from her brother, then changed what she was saying. "I'm Shuri."

"Is that name supposed to mean anything?" Thor boomed out.

"Princess of Wakanda and leader of Wakanda's scientific division."

"Scientific division? You're not supposed to have one; You're a struggling third-world country," Natasha said.

Shuri's face forms into one of anger and moves forward to strike the spy. "Third-world!? Do you watch the news? Wakanda came out—"

"Shuri, wait," T'Challa stopped her, placing an arm on her shoulder. "It is quite odd…"

"What's odd?" Steve asks.

"The fact that you look like you're not trying to kill each other?" The man in the blue tunic said, having woken up.

The Avengers give each other a look. _Why would we want to try to kill each other?_ Went through each of their heads.

"Why would we—"

"Let's table that, shall we?" T'Challa intervened. "The thing is, where are we?"

"And how did we get here?" Tony added.

"There are no exits," Natasha noted.

"And we have no weapons," Clint added.

Stephen attempted to create a pair of shields, only to get questioned on who he was and what he was doing. "Doctor Stephen Strange. And it also appears that magic doesn't work here either."

"Magic?" An overly chirpy voice called out. The teenager had gotten up and joined the group. "Oh, hey Mr Stark. Wait, Captain America?"

"Ok," Tony stopped the teenager. "I can understand… Shuri, was it? Third-world country or not, wherever we are, obviously a scientist might be needed. But you, kid? Who are you?"

Peter just gave his mentor an odd look. "Peter… Parker…"

A thought came to Stephen. "Wait, what's the last date you remember?"

"January 4th, 2014," Steve answered without missing a beat.

Everyone who was awake, apart from the Avengers and Fury, "ohhed" at this revelation. They were all saved from the awkward silence that would soon follow, as the last person woke up. However, it wasn't the human who spoke. It was a racoon.

"Where the hell are we?"

Since no one was expecting this, most people jumped in shock but everyone turned around to face the human and racoon.

"Did… Did that racoon just speak?" Tony asked in shock. Shuri just nodded in response.

"He's… He's not a racoon. Don't get him started," the human said. It took Quill a moment to realize he was surrounded in other humans. "Huh? Who are you?"

"More Terrans? One's enough," Rocket muttered.

And so everyone properly introduced themselves. Stephen, Peter (Parker), Shuri and T'Challa kept the fact that they were from February of 2018 a secret.

"So… What are we supposed to do now?" Bruce asked, not expecting an answer.

" _That's a good question, Banner!"_ A voice came out of nowhere. Everyone looked around looking for the source of the voice, but because of the speakers, it was hard to pinpoint. _"I understand that you are probably very confused and wish to know how you got to this movie theatre—"_

"You don't say?" Clint muttered.

"— _but don't fear, once you've finished the movie, you will be teleported back to where you were last. I have taken away your weapons and disabled in abilities you may possess. Anyway, back to why you're here: The future of your universe is at stake. BUT! You can avoid the outcome if, and only if, you pay attention to the movie. And, just for the sake of not confusing anyone, refer to Peter Parker as Peter and Peter Quill as Quill. Good luck."_

And with that, the voice was cut off.

"Really? Why do I have to be referred to by my last name?!"

Everyone looked at each other strangely, but before they could comment further, the screen lit up, a message displayed across on it.

 _On the armrests of the seats, there are two buttons. One is to pause the movie and the other is to start. The movie will commence in fifteen… Fourteen…"_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Forgot to put the translation for the last chapter:_

 _Mzalwana, yintoni... Siphi thina? -_ _Brother, what… Where are we?  
_

 _Please excuse any translation issues_ — _I do use Google Translation. Also sorry if this chapter is littered with mistakes, I didn't really check it._

* * *

They all scrambled to the seats, the words of the person urging them on. Rocket, Quill, Stephen, Shuri and T'Challa sat on very back row while the Avengers and Fury took the row in front of them. Much to Tony's surprise, Peter decided to sit next to him.

Once the countdown is finished, the logo rolls. The viewers take in the fact that the logo has them and some others on it.

"Has anyone heard of "Marvel Studios"?" Fury asked. Nobody answered him, confirming that they didn't know.

About halfway through a voice-over starts. Thor recognises the Asgardian accent. But what the Asgardian is saying is what makes the viewers' blood run cold. The voice-over is obviously distressed, in every sentence the urgency being highlighted. But a certain set of words catch the attention of everyone, mainly the Avengers.

"Ok, wait a second," Tony said, quickly pressing his pause button. "What the hell?"

Thor blinks, not able to properly process the voice-over. Why did Asgard have a refugee ship? Little lone why was it under attack?

"Thor…?" Bruce tried. "Thor, are you ok?"

Said person just nodded. "Yes…" _No._ "Let's just continue. Maybe… Maybe this will show us why… why Asgard's people are there."

As the movie shifts from the logo, Peter notices Tony paling at the sight of the ship that's briefly shown. He, however, doesn't get a chance to ask his mentor about it.

Bile builds up in everyone's throat as they see discarded Asgardians lying around, with Ebony Maw walking through them as if they were still living.

" _You may think this is suffering. No. It is salvation,"_ the alien says.

A string of curse words are uttered under Barton's lips. "They're not saved you asshole," was one of the many variations that Natasha heard.

The audience wonder who the human-like person is as the screen briefly shows them more characters. Some quickly look away as an Asgardian is stabbed off to the side. Bated breaths were quickly released as—while Maw walked past him—Loki was revealed to be the human-like person from before. This, of course, made the theatre room to seemingly erupt into chaos.

"What the hell?!" (Natasha, Tony and Fury.)

"What's he doing there?" (Steve and Bruce.)

Clint growls. "He's probably the one who called this "Thanos" guy. Wouldn't put it past him."

"Isn't he that guy who attacked New York all those years ago?" Peter asks, looking around.

But everyone shut's up when Thor speaks. "How is this possible? He's supposed to be _dead_."

They all blinked.

"What do you mean, _dead_?" Steve asked.

Thor (seemingly handling this situation remarkably well,) answered, his eyes not leaving the screen. "A few months ago, Jane, Loki and I ended up on a deserted planet. Long story short, we engaged in a fight with a group of Dark Elves. Loki killed one while getting stabbed himself."

No one had any response. But if this was their future, and Loki looked very much alive, where was he?

As they watched on, Thanos picks a battered Asgardian off the ground. The spies confirm that it is in fact, Thor.

"This is only going to get worse, isn't it?" Tony mumbled. Everyone nodded, praying On-Screen Thor wasn't dead.

The famous (in our world) purple alien starts his speech of what destiny is like, provoking the thoughts of many.

" _I know what it's like to lose."_ Tony can't help the creeping uneasiness building up inside of him. He can't help but be reminded of everything he'd failed at, what he thought he'd failed at. What he had seen through the portal.

" _To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail nonetheless."_ Fury can't help but wonder, _Was the Avengers enough?_ He blinks, finding it surprising that a movie is managing to make him have doubts.

Meanwhile, Steve doesn't understand the feeling of… _forgetfulness_. _Why on Earth would this make me feel that?_

" _Dread it, run from it… Destiny arrives all the same."_ An unexplainable uneasiness grows within Quill, but he pushes it down, following what they'd been told earlier and not missing a thing.

"I have the slightest feeling that Loki isn't working for this Thanos," Stephen deducts, recognising the Power Stone.

Thor nodded; He'd noticed that Loki's face did not hold any sort of triumph, but rather, uncertainty.

What is said next surprises everyone, but again, more so to the Avengers. They blink in shock, the question begging to be asked. Since when did Thor become… less serious? It doesn't go past them that Thor's hair is far shorter and one eye is covered.

Loki is then given the choice; Giving up the Tesseract or his brother's head burnt off from his body. Of course, Loki chooses the latter.

"Nice to see that even in the face of complete destruction, your brother still hates you," Tony quips. No one comments.

Clint can't help but feel the anger and rage build inside of him.

Thanos is genuinely surprised but carries the request through.

"Please don't die, please don't die," Peter mumbles under his breath. Tony considers covering the teen's eyes but, to the equal surprise of everyone, Loki shouts, wanting Thanos to stop.

They all breath a (some small) sigh of relief. That doesn't stop curiosity from taking them over.

"Why is he being so nice?" Clint asks, hiding the shock in his voice. This Loki was very different from how he acted a few years earlier…

"It could have something to do with the refugee ship," Shuri suggests.

A doubletake is taken as Thor gasps out his next words. Though, with the movie earlier saying that the Asgardians were currently on a refugee ship, the viewers only assumed the worst of the worst. It doesn't shock any of the Avengers or Fury to see the Tesseract appear, though Peter is about to say something, but thinks twice about it.

What the Avengers _are_ shocked (and the rest surprised) about is Thor being referred to as Loki's _brother_.

"Did he just… Did Loki just call you…?" Steve asked, voicing everyone else.

"And what does "The sun will shine on us again," supposed to mean?" Quill asks.

Thor couldn't comprehend what exactly was going on. First, Asgard was destroyed, forced onto a refugee ship and his brother was _alive_ , not _dead_. "I don't understand…" he muttered. "What could be going on?"

At this point—the Avengers especially—don't think that anything more could surprise them. Absolutely noth—

" _And for another, we have a Hulk."_

The people from Earth (minus Quill of course,) stare in shock as Hulk bursts forward, fighting Thanos.

"Ok, this is getting ridiculous!" Tony shouts, throwing his hands up.

Bruce was hyperventilating as hundreds of questions fired through his brain. _"What am I doing in space? How is the Hulk there? Why were we with Asgard in the first place?_

"How did you get there?" Steve and Shuri ask at the same time, both looking at Bruce.

"I'm trying to work that one out myself…"

"What could have happened in the future that leads to this?" Clint breathed, while Natasha muttered something similar.

"Enough!" Fury raises his voice. Everyone shuts up. "We will get no information if we sit here doing nothing. Does anyone want to inform us?" None of the future people answer because not even they know. "Ok then, someone resume the movie."

Hulk fights valiantly, sending quick punches towards the Mad Titan. Excluding Quill and Rocket (both who have no clue on what's happening or how any of this is overtly important), Fury and Stephen, the viewers cheer, hoping that Hulk can overpower Thanos. Even Bruce, who is sometimes annoyed at the Other Guy, can't help but feel a little happy at the reaction.

But silence settles over everyone like a mute button when Ebony Maw pauses Cull Obsidian's wanting to join the fight.

After thirty seconds, Hulk is lying on the ground, defeated. Everyone is silent, refusing to believe what they just saw. Even Quill and Rocket can't help but be in denial.

"Is… Is it even possible to subdue the Hulk?" Steve muttered.

At this point, Bruce was shaking uncontrollably. _How… No, no, no. This couldn't happen._

 _Could it?_

Peter and Shuri can't help but let out the small snort as Onscreen Thor whacks Thanos with a pipe. He tries again, with the broken half-pipe, but with a simple kick, Thor is thrown across the ship. Ebony Maw uses pieces of scrap metal to trap him. The movie then cuts to an Asgardian who is picking up a sword.

"Who's that?" Both Peters ask at the same time.

"Heimdall," Thor answers, curious as to what the Gatekeeper is about to do.

Heimdall utters a spell(?), which creates the Bifrost. It collects the Hulk-fading-back-into-Banner and sends him away. A small amount of fear, but ultimately defiance, crosses Heimdall's face as Thanos takes Corvus Glaive's spear.

" _That was a mistake."_

"Oh shit," Tony and Fury mumble at the same time.

Thor closes his eyes, too late, as the spear is shoved through Heimdall's chest. His onscreen counterpart does exactly what Viewer-Thor thought. But just like the viewer, Onscreen Thor is helpless as a piece of metal covers his mouth, curtsy of Maw's telekinesis.

The Tesseract is picked up from its position on the floor by Maw and he says his second monologue. It finishes with him telling Thanos about wielding two Infinity Stones. While onscreen, Thanos takes the Tesseract, everyone glares at Fury.

"You had an Infinity Stone that whole time?!" Clint shouts "Be lucky we don't have any weapons here, or else you'd have an arrow through your other eye!"

"Barton, calm down. We didn't know what it was."

"Still doesn't make you look any better—" Thor states.

"—It actually makes it worse," Natasha finishes.

Not knowing what else to say, Fury turns back to the screen. After a few seconds, everyone else follows.

Back to the movie, they watch as the Tesseract is crushed and the Space Stone is added to the Gauntlet. Rocket and Quill grimace remembering their encounter with the Power Stone. Thanos then says, _"There are two more Stones on Earth."_.

"What!?" Almost everyone—Quill being the loudest—shouts.

"Thor," Natasha asks, ", do you know any of this?"

"SHILED currently has Loki's sceptre," Fury said. "Maybe there's another in there?"

"Then what—and where—is the other one?" Steve asks.

Unnoticed by the others, Strange frowns. How could Thanos know that the Time Stone was on Earth? Could the track where the Stones were?  
Fury was just as—if not more—confused then the others. If there were two Stones on Earth, shouldn't SHIELD have picked up on the other? It would have to have been emitting a similar energy signal as the Tesseract but they hadn't found it, didn't even know it _existed_.

"All I know is that the Aether is on another planet," Thor answers Steve's question. "The Aether is supposed to be the Reality Stone."

"What about the others? Maybe if we can find most of them," Steve starts, a plan already forming in his mind, ", we could stop this future from happening."

"Apart from the Reality Stone, I don't know where the others are. As Fury said, Loki's sceptre may contain one, the Mind Stone. The Tesseract—Space Stone—is on Asgard. It is not known where the Time Stone is and no one has ever found the Soul Stone. Similarly to the Time Stone, the Power Stone has been lost for centuries."

"It's on Xandar," Quill announced.

"Why?" Thor asked.

"Can we just get on with the movie? I'd like to know how the Nova Corps managed to lose it," Rocket said, irritated.

Thanos tells the rest of the Black Order to go find the other two Stones. They bow, with Proxima Midnight assuring the Titan that they would not fail. The spies are beginning to get suspicious of where Loki was. But, low and behold does he appear. Loki offers to Thanos his helping—Clint isn't surprised but it does confuse Shuri and Quill—but is turned down. No one can help the small laugh that escaped their lips when Loki tried to pled his case.

However, Loki slowly moves forward. _"Almighty Thanos, I, Loki, Prince of Asgard… Odinson,"_

Thor is silent, trying to convince himself that what is being shown is fake. _What made him have a change of heart?_ Thor wondered.

" _, the rightful King of Jotunheim, god of mischief, do hereby pledge to you, my undying fidelity."_

Everyone can't help but move a little closer, even more curious as they see a knife materialising in Loki's hand.

He takes a breath before thrusting the knife towards Thanos… Who stops it with the Space Stone. Everyone sighs and leans back again, some rubbing their eyes. The way Thanos says his next words sends chills down the viewer's spines.

" _Undying?"_

"Uh oh," Bruce mumbles.

Thanos knocks the knife out of Loki's hand and lifts him by the throat.

"Shit, shit, shit," Tony mumbles.

Thor feels like looking away and in his mind, he is hoping—no, _praying_ —that what is going to happen, doesn't happen.

Loki desperately struggles against Thanos' grip. The non-Avengers shift uncomfortably. Peter squeezes his eyes shut while the others watch in horror. Loki eventually stops struggling and his eyes were slowing going red as the grip got tighter.

" _You… will never be… a god,"_ Loki barely manages to gasp out. All Thanos does is smile.

The sound of bones cracking ring out from the theatre's hidden speakers. No one speaks for a minute while they stare at the screen is shock and horror. Even Clint can't make himself feel happy at Loki's demise. Thor couldn't bear it anymore. In just under ten minutes, he'd learnt so many things: Asgard would be destroyed, everyone gone and not only had Heimdall died but Loki died. Again. Probably permanently this time.

 _All this hasn't happened yet,_ a voice told him. _There's still time to change it._

But how much time was spaced between now and then?

The viewers don't say anything—can't really feel anything, either—as the _Statesmen_ is destroyed by the activation of the Power Stone. Some, however, do frown slightly as Thor crawls over to Loki.

"Get out of there you idiot," Rocket utters, thinking of shouting it instead, but ultimately decided against it.

A few seconds later, Thor speaks up. "We have to stop this."

Everyone nodded in agreement. But they didn't even know what had caused the Asgardians to flee ( _Was it Thanos?_ Some thought,) in the first place, so how could they stop it?

The Bifrost is then shown shooting through space and soon through the atmosphere over New York. The symbol on the New York Sanctum Santorum is quickly shown. Wong and Stephen are shown to be talking. Each viewer exchange confused looks and some turn to ask Stephen about it.

"Ok, that's odd," Quill says. "Why would you be in this?"

"Why would a racoon be with be with us?" Stephen asks back. He just ignores Rocket's growl.

Back to the movie, Wong and Stephen are still talking, but are soon interrupted by the Bifrost appearing behind them. They turned around and the Cloak of Levitation came and attached itself to Stephen.

"Oh, please don't tell me your wizards," Tony groans.

"We're not," Stephen answers.

"Good."

"We're sorcerers."

"Same thing!"

Fury frowned when he saw this and Wong's conjured spell. Why hadn't these two come up on SHIELD's radar? And were there more like them?

Movie-Bruce gasps out that Thanos is coming, with Stephen and Wong looking at each other, the former asking who "Thanos" was. The music builds up, then cuts to the title card. The Avengers logo is in the background, with the name turning around into _Infinity War_.

"Who are the "Avengers"?" Rocket asks Quill.

"No idea. Probably them," Quill says, pointing to the group.

Meanwhile, another thought comes to Steve.

"Wait. This implies there are other movies based around us as the Avengers..."

"Does that mean the person from before could, potentially, know everything about our lives?" Peter asks, a little frightened at the idea.

"With that thinking, that is totally not creepy…" Shuri says before the next scene plays.


	3. Chapter 3

The next scene shows Pepper and Tony walking in a park, the latter talking. Tony pulls a face, at what he is saying, but doesn't comment. Some notice his checks go red but thankfully for Tony's quickly shrinking dignity, no one asks or comments. Onscreen-Tony is talking about his dream about the kid.

Viewer-Tony heard someone (maybe it was two people) whistle in the background. He couldn't pinpoint who but raised his voice anyway. "I swear, if any you comment, laugh or _ever_ bring this up again, I _will_ make sure your body is never found."

Again, Tony couldn't pinpoint who it was—he refused to shift his gaze—but he heard someone giggle. "I'm being serious!"

"Sure Tony, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night," Clint called out.

Behind him, Shuri broke down into silent laughter and Peter couldn't help the burst of laughter from him.

"Children," Tony muttered.

Onscreen-Tony continues to try and convince Pepper about the dream.

"Just because it happened in a dream—"

"Barton," Tony said sternly, finally shifting his gaze to the archer. Said archer took the cue and shut up.

Pepper then mentions and points to the new arc reactor, with Tony telling her what it was.

"Wait, hold up," Tony blinked. " _Nanoparticles_?"

"Yeah," Shuri said. "I thought you knew; Tiny, micro—"

"I _know_ what they are. I didn't realize it was possible. By that, I mean, I didn't expect them to be invented so soon."

"Wait for it…" Natasha muttered under her breath.

"Though it really isn't all that surprising I invent them," Tony finishes.

Shuri turned to face her brother. "Ngaba ndimele ndimxelele?"

"Hayi, kulunge ukuba ungabaxeleli ulwazi olungadingekile," T'Challa replies.

The two people onscreen continue to talk. Tony attempts to convince Pepper that the reactor is important, but the latter is firm in her stance.

Clint lifts his hand as if he's a kid in school, asking a question. "By the way, what exactly is going on with you and Pepper?"

Tony shakes his head. "I don't know. I think I know but it's doubtful."

Peter and Shuri, excited, are about to tell them but T'Challa stops them before they spill. Shuri glares at her brother before looking back at the screen.

Back to the movie, Tony promises not that there would be no more surprises. They share a kiss but are interrupted by Strange walking through a portal.

"Wow, thanks," Tony says. Stephen just ignores him.

" _Tony Stark, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me. Oh, uh, congratulations on the wedding by the way," Stephen acknowledges like it's old news._

"YES!" Shuri and Peter yell, both leaping up from their seats. Noticing everyone staring at them, some surprised at the sudden yell, they both sit back down. Shuri mumbled about hoping to have seen it or have it mentioned. Or something.

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Well, congratulations."

Bruce, who was sitting next to Tony, closed the billionaire's jaw.

"Yes, very much so," Steve says quietly and presses _play_ to start the movie again.

At the brief exchange Tony and Stephen have, all previous surprise, embarrassment and/or small amounts of joy were gone as everyone leaned forward ever so slightly, trying to catch every word. Bruce then walks through the portal and the movie cuts to the Sanctum.

" _At the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom. The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals hurtling across the virgin universe."_ Five coloured stones—red, orange, yellow, blue and purple—that were created by the magic floated to the side as Strange explained each one.

" _Space, reality, power, soul and time," Strange explains._

As the Time Stone is revealed to be on the Eye of Agamotto, everyone immediately turns to face Stephen in surprise and start asking questions at once.

"You have an Infinity Stone with you?" T'Challa asks.

"How did you even become in possession of one?" Thor asks as the same time

After a heartbeat, Fury then asks something that was bothering him. "If it was in New York, how come SHIELD has never picked up on its existence?"

Stephen just sighed at his future-self. "The Time Stone was never in just _one_ place. But because of reasons that I don't know if I should tell you about, I am not giving you the location to where it's usually kept."

As the movie continued, Fury was concerned about that. But in order to stop this future, they had to get the Stone. Maybe he should get some agents or technology to track it down…

Everyone feels a shiver down their spine when Bruce points out the real reason behind Loki's invasion. Clint tried his best to convince himself that this information was false, that Loki had tried to take over the world for his own benefit. But the death and way he was acting earlier made the archer reconsider those thoughts.

The conversation onscreen then got off topic, surprising no one that it was Tony who did it. It caused Fury to raise an eyebrow.

"It appears that even with the fate of the universe, you can't help get off topic Stark."

Multiple people nodded in agreement.

Back onscreen, Stephen and Wong explain how they can't leave the Stone. Tony then says something that Natasha unconsciously filed away for later.

" _Yeah, so conversely, it may also be his best chance against_ _us_ _."_

He then asks Stephen what exactly his job was, with the wizard answering.

Clint gives a low whistle. "Wow. Nice to meet you Doctor; We've finally found someone who can out-talk the great Tony Stark—Complete with a goatee."

Meanwhile, Tony was quickly devising a plan on how to trap Clint and "accidentally" drop him in some isolated place. Maybe with his arrows. Or not. _Let's put that plan away for now._ Tony thinks. _Don't need to affirm what Eyepatch just said._

Bruce then asked where Vision was, who, of course, has the Mind Stone in him. This caused someone to pause the movie and all the Avengers, Fury and the two Guardians turn to the future people.

"Who's Vision?" Fury asks.

"And how does he have the Mind Stone?" Thor adds.

"I don't know how he got an Infinity Stone," Shuri shrugs. "But in the future, you Tony, create a human-robot-AI. Or at least, you attempt it. Something goes wrong, so you have to create another. I—no one outside the Avengers I guess—don't really know what happened. The second one is Vision."

They nod and turn back to the screen. Tony's brain, meanwhile, goes into overdrive. _Are they talking about the Ultron program?_ He wondered. But that was still in its earliest stages, barely even a well thought-out concept.

Rocket, on the other hand, is curious to know who Vision is. _The Terrans managed to fuse AI technology with an Infinity Stone? That is either very stupid or smart._

Meanwhile, Onscreen-Tony reveals that Vision can't be tracked because his transponder was turned off. Bruce accuses of Tony for losing another super-bot, which Tony counters with the fact that Vision was evolving.

The two scientists—as viewers—think about this. An android evolving? That could go two ways. But the one that their movie counterparts were talking about had an Infinity Stone. What and how had that happened? Fury also decided that as soon as they got out of the movie theatre, Loki's sceptre would immediately be given to the two in hopes to extract the Stone, should it be there.

Strange then asks who could find Vision with a barely noticeable swear from Tony.

" _Probably Steve Rodgers," Tony says._

" _Oh great," Stephen mutters._

"Uh, hold up a second," Steve pauses the movie. "Why do Tony and Strange sound…"

"Exasperated?" T'Challa fills in.

"Yeah… That."

The future people give each other a look, wondering if they should tell what happens. After all, the reason they were watching the film with the Avengers was so that they could fill in the blanks.

"Well?" Clint urges after the passing seconds of silence.

Two seconds later, T'Challa answered. "You remember how my sister told you about Ultron and Vision?" The Avengers nod in response. "That has a lot to do with," he then pointed to the screen. "We'll watch for a few more lines and if they don't say it—with how it's going, I doubt it'll be glossed over—we'll tell you."

So they continue watching. As T'Challa predicted, Tony did tell Bruce what had happened to the Avengers. _"The Avengers broke up. We're toast."_

Fury's face darkened. He'd trusted the Avengers—albeit with caution—but something like that couldn't… shouldn't happen. And since this had, indeed, happened, did that mean…?

Meanwhile, the Avengers listened to the next few lines from Tony in bewilderment. They couldn't comprehend it. How… No, a better question would be: _Why_ did the Avengers break up? Why were Steve and Tony not speaking to each other?

"But why?" Steve asked, looking around.

"You know how we mentioned Ultron earlier?" T'Challa starts. "Well, it was never really said how it happened but considering what he did to Sokovia, the governments of the world created this law which causes the Avengers to break up." Noticing the slightly confused expressions from not only the past people but also the two Guardians, T'Challa added: "It's complicated."

Peter then quickly resumes the movie so nothing more could be said.

Back to the movie, Banner convinces Tony to call Steve. Tony does so and scoffs as he takes out the phone that he had been given.

"A flip phone? Really?" Shuri says.

"Yeah, even one of those $30 touchscreen phones are better than that piece of junk," Tony says. "Whatever happened, you must really be desperate."

However, Tony notices that Strange's hair is moving. He stops and the four people in the Sanctum listen closely. Scraps of metal are seen flying past the hole in the roof and muffled screams are heard.

The blood in the viewers goes cold. What could these four do against the Black Order, now that they had arrived?

* * *

 _A/N: So I was going to upload this chapter yesterday but didn't in case the Avengers 4 trailer dropped AND IT DID. IT'S AMAZING AND IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT_ — _ok, I'll stop with the caps now. But seriously, it's amazing._

 _What was your favourite part(s)? Do you like the title that was chosen? And should I take a break in the story and write the characters' reactions to it? Please let me know and now to watch the trailer for the next few hours!_

 _Translations:_

 _Ngaba ndimele ndimxelele? - Should I tell him?_

 _Hayi, kulunge ukuba ungabaxeleli ulwazi olungadingekile. - Nah, best not to tell them unnecessary information._


	4. Chapter 4

The viewers watch as the four movie characters walked outside of the Sanctum. They are greeted with chaos as the civilians ran away from the giant ship. Tony walks against the crowd and asks FRIDAY what is happening.

"FRIDAY?" Tony questions out load. "Why would I be using an incomplete backup?"

"You make backups of your AIs?" Steve looked at Tony.

"Maybe? Sort of? Not really?"

After Tony calls back to Stephen to pocket the Time Stone with the Doctor saying that they might want to use it, the movie cuts to Peter in the bus. He looks up as he feels his Spider-Sense warning him of the spaceship.

"Uh, ok, what? Why's the kid being shown?" Clint asked. "Sorry, but you don't look like someone who could help all that much."

Peter glared at the archer. "Excuse me—"

"Well he's here now, with us in this theatre, so he must have some relevance to what's happening," Tony interrupted.

Natasha blinked in surprise at the outburst but didn't say anything, again, unconsciously saving it away for later.

Peter then asks Ned to cause a distraction. He does and Peter opens a bus window with one of his web shooters. As he pulls himself out, the movie quickly cuts to Stan Lee's cameo.

"Woah. I didn't expect them to put anyone else into… what's it called? Cyro-something," Steve commented out loud.

"Nah, he's the one told me off when I accidentally webbed someone to their car. Never knew he was a bus driver though."

T'Challa looked at the screen thoughtfully. "He does look like someone I saw briefly once in Korea."

"He does look a little familiar… Though that could've been a coincidence," Strange mentions.

Rocket then pipes up with his own contribution. "You're right wizard, he does look familiar."

"Freaky…" Clint muttered.

The three spies, however, memorised the driver's face, filing it away to find out more later.

Just before the next scene, Peter swings out of the bus. Clint asks Peter what he was going to do, again, but the teenager didn't answer. The next scene shows Tony ordering FRIDAY to order an evacuation of the area. A cold feeling runs down the spines of the viewers as Cull Obsidian and Ebony Maw exit the spaceship.

Maw starts monologuing, with Tony interrupting him.

" _Stonekeeper," Ebony turns his head slightly to Strange, who moves his head slightly to show that he is listening. "Does this chattering animal speak for you?"_

A couple of people laughed or snorted quietly.

" _Certainly not, I speak for myself." Strange and Wong move forward, both creating shields. "You're trespassing in this city and on this planet."_

"Well that's noble of you," Tony mumbled.

Maw gets bored and sends Cull Obsidian to fight. The alien grunts and moves forward. Some of the lesser experienced people present felt their mouths go dry while everyone else just went cold. If Thanos could do what he did earlier, then surely he would only have the best of fighters.

Tony then asks Banner if he could bring the Hulk out. Bruce tries, but only a bit of green rides up his neck and even then the effort is strained.

"This is weird…" Natasha muttered.

"And it doesn't make any sense," Clint softly added. "I always thought Hulk wanted to get out as much as possible."

As the scene continued, Bruce started to get uneasy. Why wouldn't Hulk come out? At the start of the movie, Hulk had seemed—well, not eager, but he definitely hadn't been afraid.

 _It was probably because Thanos bet him,_ was the only conclusion the viewers could come to.

Realizing that with each passing second that Cull is getting closer and Hulk isn't coming out, Tony gently pushes Bruce off the side. He asks Wong to keep an eye on the scientist and walks up to the alien. Tony taps his arc reactor twice and the nanotech suit quickly covers his body. The Avengers are impressed by the suit while the others almost shrug it off as no big deal.

Tony turned to Shuri. "Just out of curiosity, you wouldn't happen to know how long it takes to create nanotech from scratch?"

The Wakandan shrugged. "I guess it's dependent on the metal—and in my case, your experience with it. For example, if you have no experience working with vibranium, then it could take decades but because you're used to working with other metals, a year, maybe?"

"Either way," Bruce added, his confusion on Hulk not appearing in his voice. ", it's impressive."

Onscreen-Tony blocks Cull's attack and then blasts him away with four sonic blasters. Cull is thrown back to Ebony Maw, who just waves his hand to the side, causing the larger alien to crash into the debris.

As this happens, with Bruce asking where that attack had come from, Shuri jumped up and yelled.

"You managed to create a weaponised nanotech suit?!" T'Challa pulled her back into her seat. "And without vibranium too."

"What? According to SHIELD files, he created the first Iron Man suit while trapped in a cave," Natasha off-handily mentions.

Out of the corner of Peter's eye-sight, he saw Tony shift uncomfortably and mumbled something about consequences but he didn't ask. Stephen and T'Challa shared a look, debating whether or not to tell them about SHIELD and HYDRA.

Tony then gets caught off-guard as Ebony Maw quickly lifts his finger to uproot him. The telekinetic alien then picks up to fallen trees, sending them towards the wizards and Bruce. Wong moves in front, creating a shield while Strange portals Bruce and half a car to a park.

"Careful," Natasha mumbled.

Because he was directly behind Natasha, Stephen caught this. "He was getting in the way and serving no purpose."

The spy glared at him, but Strange ignored her.

Soon, Tony is knocked to the same park as Banner. He takes a brief moment to ask Banner what the status is with bringing out the Hulk.

" _I'm trying. He won't come out."_

"But why wouldn't he want to come out?" Clint mused, voicing the thoughts of the others.

Cull then bursts through the building of a wall, swinging his weapon towards the two. As Tony then engages in a fight with the grey alien, Bruce is continuing to try and bring out Hulk.

" _Come on Hulk! What are you doing to me?" He then starts lapping himself. "Come out! Come out! Come out!"_

 _Half of Hulk's face then shows up screaming "No!"._

All the viewers looked at the screen in shock. Hulk _didn't_ want to come out? At this time of crisis?

The movie then cut back to the Cull vs Iron Man fight. No matter what Tony throws at him, the attacks don't even scratch the alien. After having enough, he swings his axe at Tony. A sharp intake of breath is taken before the axe is stopped. Spider-Man's face popped up from behind it.

" _Hey man. What's up, Mr. Stark?"_

Everyone's head whipped towards Peter, who just sunk into his chair as they—actually, just the Avengers—started talking at once.

"What the hell?" (Clint.)

"A young child should not be helping with this sort of matter," Thor boomed, causing a few people to jump. He _had_ been oddly quiet…

"Actually, come to think about it… Tony? Care to explain?" Natasha asked, being the only one to catch Peter's "Mister Stark".

"I have no clue on who this kid is!" Tony defended himself.

T'Challa just gave the teenager a look of curiosity. "This explains so much…" He then paused, noticing that the attention had been turned to him. "There may be a better time to explain."

Peter then quickly explains where he came from and asks Tony why Cull was there. Tony explains how they came to "steal a necklace from a wizard".

Stephen face-palmed. "We're not wizards."

"There's more than one of you?" Fury asked incredulously.

Stephen just smacked his head again.

As Spider-Man and Iron Man continue to fight Cull Obsidian, the movie cuts away to show how Stephen and Wong are doing against Ebony Maw. Wong is taken out of the fight as Maw releases the pressure of a fire hydrant onto him. A few minutes of continued fighting ensues between Strange and Maw. Viewer-Strange prays that his movie-future-self doesn't mess up as that version is trapped within bricks from a building.

The doctor then gets released from the binding but Maw telekinetically commands cables to wrap around his body.

" _You'll find removing a dead man's spell troublesome," Stephen barely gasps out._

Peter squeezed his eyes shut for a second.

" _You'll only wish you_ _were_ _dead," the alien threatens._

 _Useless threats_. Strange thinks.

The cables tightened, cutting off most Stephen's air. Although Maw had lifted the ground so that he could take him, the Cloak of Levitation pulled its master free. As they flew past Iron Man and Spider-Man, Tony orders Peter to go get Stephen. He does, but Maw sends a sheet of metal to knock the teenager off-course.

"Not cool," Peter muttered at the same time as his movie counterpart.

"Seriously? You just shrugged that metal off like it was nothing," Clint said.

After a short chase, Peter finally webs Stephen away but a blue beam of light appears and takes the two humans, alien and cloak follow them up. Peter, however, does try to stop it from happening by gripping on a nearby pole.

The spies turn to Peter and again, it's Clint who voices their thoughts.

"How strong are you?"

"Um… I don't know. There was this one time when I had to lift a building that'd fallen on top of me."

Fury raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything further.

Peter reports to Tony what is happening but Tony is still busy fighting Cull Obsidian. The alien goes in to attack a snared Tony but a portal is opened at the last second. Cull landed face first into a snow and icy tundra but shook it off. He then jumped back through the portal but Wong closed it off. Bruce kicked the severed arm away.

"That's disgusting," Shuri says.

Tony managed to get free, hastily thanked Wong and chased after the departing spaceship. The camera then cuts and shows Peter clinging onto the side as his life depends on it.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Tony whips his head around to face Peter. "You're only a kid!"

"When we get out of here, and if I'm accidentally sent back to 2016, I'm talking Stark out of this," T'Challa said.

Tony orders FRIDAY to give him a boost and orders her to unlock 17-A.

"What is 17-A?" Steve asks.

"How should we know?" Clint says.

"Even _I_ don't know," Peter pipes up. "Though… Now that I think about it, I think I might know."

As the Iron Spider capsule is ejected from the upstate Compound wall, the movie briefly shows the Avengers Compound. Tony pulled a face at this.

"Really? We use boring, flat buildings in the future?"

"At least it seems more inconspicuous then a massive tower," Fury fired back.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with my—"

"Tony," Fury interrupted. "There's a massive Avengers logo on the outside. That's a beacon for trouble."

"May I also be the one who brings up that because of your tower, that's what Loki used to bring the Chitauri?" Natasha adds.

Tony says nothing and the two teenagers present snicker.

"Round one goes to the spies," Shuri announces.

As the movie resumes, the suit is shown heading straight towards the ship. Peter is slowly climbing the side of the ship and the viewers notice the sky getting darker with each passing second. Tony tries to convince him to get down but Peter rebuttals it. Peter then pulls his mask off and is gasping. _"I can't breathe…"_ is barely audible.

The viewers couldn't help but tense up as Peter fell from the side of the ship. Surely the teenager would get himself killed…

But they all let out the breath they weren't aware they were holding when the Iron Spider suit attached itself to Peter. The teenager is instantly able to breathe again and regains his hold onto the side and stands up.

"Holy shit, kid. I'm going to make sure you're never in this sort of situation," Tony said.

Tony then orders FRIDAY to send Peter back. She complies and a parachute is opened up.

"Oh come on!" Peter yelled at the same time as his onscreen counterpart.

The movie then changes to Tony cutting inside of the ship. He enters with FRIDAY telling him that Pepper was calling. He accepts the call and a voiceover from Pepper is asking him if he was alright. Soon she's trying to convince herself that Tony was not on the ship. But as the seconds pass, static grows into the call.

The viewers could hear the static. And they couldn't help the small bit of worry settle into them. Considering that this was a movie, there were at least two hours left. What could possibly happen in that amount of time?

Tony notices the increasing static and asks if she's still there. What Pepper says next soon gets drowned out by static. FRIDAY confirms that the call had been lost and is soon disconnected as well.

The look at Onscreen-Tony gives cannot be deciphered by any of viewers. All Tony could think of was when he the nuke through the wormhole… But then, he had called her, Pepper didn't answer and he still got out fine. (That all depended on which perspective you looked at.)

But with what been shown so far, _I don't think I'm coming back_ was what went through the genius's mind. Similar thoughts went through the others.

The movie then showed the outside of the ship. It pans to the side, showing Peter hanging onto a web attached to it. He pulls himself inside a closing hatch and makes a comment on how he should have stayed on the bus.

"Yes, you should have," Tony and Stephen mutter at the same time.

"By the way," Clint speaks up, drowning out the last two. "Are you unkillable or something?"

"I don't know. Am I?" Peter asked no one in particular.

The movie then cut back to New York, with Bruce picking up the long-ago discarded flip phone. He picked it up and noticed Wong leaving through a portal.

" _Where you going?" He asks._

" _The Time Stone's been taken," Wong explains. "The Sanctum remains unguarded. What will you do?"_

Everyone turned to face the sorcerer, some with looks of disbelief etched onto their faces.

"The fate of the universe is at stake and your friend can't help?" Fury asked.

Stephen put his fingers to his temples and rubbed them before explaining why Wong had said what he said. "There are three sanctums that have immense power. If all three are gone, unimaginable threats can come. Back in 2016, two fell and the third—the one shown in this movie—was damaged enough that it briefly opened the world up to the Dark Dimension."

T'Challa, Shuri and Peter looked at him.

"That… never happened," Peter said.

"Let's just say that we sorcerers have a way of covering our tracks. Unlike a certain other group of people."

Back to the movie, Wong nods slightly and closes the portal. Banner blows some dust off the phone and as the call is connecting, upbeat 70s music begins to play. The screen cuts to space, with the words "space" displayed onscreen and capitalised.

"Wow, thanks for the hint whoever made this movie. We'd be lost without the location card," Tony sarcastically said.

It then cut to the back of Quill's head who is dancing along to _Rubberband_ Man. The camera pans around the ship showing each of the Guardians.

"Wait," Peter said, holding up a hand. "First of all, who are they? And second, you're from space? That's so cool!"

"Technically, I'm from Earth and was taken as a child. Don't know where Rocket's from though," Quill quickly cleared up. "And the first one was Drax, then Gamora and behind Rocket is Groot."

"And before you get confused, the only words Groot can say are "I", "am" and "Groot". Specifically in that order," Rocket added. He noticed that Groot was a teenager, and couldn't help but feel a bit happier.

Onscreen-Rocket asks no one in particular why they were doing what they were doing. Gamora explained that they were answering a distress signal, which resulted in a somewhat more relaxed atmosphere to become tense once again. The only problem? They were too late for the distress signal…

The Guardians talk about getting paid (which Gamora reminds them that getting paid isn't the point) and stealing the ship.

"Really? You're answering a distress signal and are thinking about stealing from them?" Steve asked, not being able to help a bit of anger in his tone.

"Calm down. Our movie-selves probably just think it's a group of defenceless VIPs or something. We'd take something, no matter what we came across," Rocket says.

At that moment during the movie, Gamora gave Quill a look of disbelief before he shook his head.

"Seriously?" Rocket muttered.

The movie then cut to Mantis, who told the Guardians that they were arriving where the _Statesmen_ had been.

"Who's she?" Peter asked. "You didn't mention her before."

Meanwhile, the two present Guardians scrunched their faces up, not knowing who it was.

Onscreen-Quill reminded the Guardians that the mission might be dangerous. It cuts to Groot, who is playing a game. Quill tells him to put it away but Groot tells him something that only two of the viewers understand.

"You really need to teach your tree better manners," Thor said, surprising everyone.

"Wait, you understood him?" Rocket and Quill ask at the same time.

Thor just shrugged in response. "It's not that hard to learn. See, even your film version knows what he's saying."

Sure enough, Quill scolded Groot before slowing the _Benatar_. It comes to a halt and displays the destruction of the _Statesmen_ across the entirety of the screen. A small gasp falls from some of the viewers, not expecting to see so much destruction (though they did wonder why they were shocked). The movie cuts to back inside the ship and pans down, looking through the window. Bruce shifts uncomfortably while Peter squeezes his eyes shut again as an Asgardian drifts past.

The movie quickly cut to just behind Gamora and the music instantly tipped the non-Guardians off.

"She knows something the rest of you don't…" Shuri said.

Rocket mentions how they weren't going to get paid when an Asgardian body hit the front window of the ship. The sudden _thump_ caused some people to jump slightly. However, they are once again tensed as they recognise it as Thor.

"Please don't be dead," Peter muttered, the "please" to go on longer.

A sigh of relief is released from our Earth-based heroes as Thor's eye open. But it quickly cuts away to him being dumped on a table inside the ship, unconscious.

"At least you're not dead," Stephen said.

"Wait, what? The magic man doesn't just speak in cryptic words and sarcasm?" Tony said, feigning shock. Everyone just rolled their eyes.

"Why _are_ you making such a big deal over… Thor, is it?" Rocket asked, genuinely interested but still sounding sarcastic.

"Future King of Asgard, one of the Nine Realms?" Thor clarified.

"If you're a future king, why were your people on a refugee ship?" Rocket asks again.

An awkward silence fell upon the group of people while the movie continued to play. Quill glared at Rocket and then looked back to concentrate on the film.

" _How the hell is this dude still alive?" Quill asked._

"Space-Man has a point," Tony spoke up. "How _are_ you still alive?"

Thor shrugged, ignoring the heaviness he felt. "Asgardian bodies are different to mortal ones."

" _He is not a dude. You're a dude. This… This is a man," Drax said, not realizing the insult._

"Ouch. Quill, you need some ice?" Shuri asked.

"No… Why would I need ice?" Quill asked, looking around confused. Shuri and Peter just snicker at his cluelessness.

The insults continue, with both Quills looking extremely confused (though the viewer was trying to work out what Shuri meant by needing ice). Mantis, ignoring the others, put a hand on Thor's head.

" _He is anxious, angry. He feels tremendous loss and guilt…" Mantis said, before taking her hand off._

"Ok… That wasn't weird, like, at all," Clint said.

Quill then asks Mantis to wake Thor up. She does, with Thor violently jumping off the table, thinking he was still on the _Statesmen_. As he gasps for breath, asking who the Guardians were, the audience could see Thor's face much clearer than at the start, thus noticing that one eye had an eyepatch.

But before they could comment on it, the movie cut to Gamora speaking.

" _The entire time I knew Thanos, he only ever had one goal."_

"She knows Thanos!?" Was pretty much what every shouted.

"How? And why?" Clint asked.

"That's pretty much the same question," T'Challa said.

" _To bring balance to the universe by wiping out half of all life. He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre."_

"That's horrible…" Peter said.

"Understatement of the year," Shuri said.

" _If he gets all six Infinity Stones he can do it with the snap of his fingers like this," Gamora snapped her fingers in emphasis._

"That explains so much," Bruce said.

"Wait," Peter paused the movie. "If Thanos sent Loki to attack Earth, and if he succeeded, does that mean…?"

No one answered but they all knew, deep down what Peter was going to say next.

" _You seem to know a great deal about Thanos," Thor off-handily said._

" _Gamora is the daughter of Thanos," Drax cleared up._

And once again, everyone lost it. It took a few minutes for them to calm down as some (like Clint and… well, just Clint) had gotten up from their seats. Once they'd calm down, the movie continued.

Onscreen-Thor had the same reaction as the audience, but Quill cleared it up by saying that Thanos was actually her stepfather and attempted to stop an oncoming fight. Thor faced Gamora, who was perfectly ready for some sort attack, but it never came. Instead, Thor placed a hand on her shoulder.

" _Families can be tough. Before my father died, he told me that I had a half-sister that he imprisoned in Hel."_

The audience was surprised at this, before picking up on what he'd just said.

Thor felt a weight suddenly rest in him as he realized something: He'd lost his mother and father and saw his friend and brother killed right in front of him. Soon, he'd be the only one left. And since his father had died, at the moment in time during the film, he would be the king of Asgard.

Steve recognised this, having faced a somewhat similar situation to this. But nowhere near as close.

" _And then she returned home and stabbed me in the eye, so, I had to kill her."_

"Thor, you have one messed up family," Tony announced.

Quill stepped forward, pushing Gamora to the side. He tried to one-up Thor by talking about how he had to kill his father but he _"… Came out with both my eyes."_ During that, the movie briefly showed Rocket sighing and rolling his eyes, which the audience didn't notice as they did the same thing.

Thor, who had been given some sort of food, lifted his spoon up and mentioned how he needed a hammer, not a spoon.

"By the way, where is your hammer?" Clint asked.

Onscreen-Thor walked through the ship and stopped outside an electronic lock. He tried to guess the passcode but was interrupted by Rocket, asking what he was doing. Thor told the Guardians that he was taking their pod but Quill stepped in.

" _No you're not," he said, making his voice deeper._

Each audience member pulled a face, except for Quill.

"Are you… Are you making your voice deeper?" Shuri asked.

"Looks like someone's jealous," Peter said, in a singsong voice.

The two movie counterparts continued arguing about the voice change Quill made. Thor then understood how Tony felt earlier when he heard some people snickering, but unlike Tony, Thor didn't threaten anyone.

" _Enough! We need to stop Thanos, which means we need to find out where he's going next," Gamora interrupted._

"Thank you!" Natasha and Rocket called out at once.

Thor told the Guardians that Thanos would be going to Knowhere. Quill, back in his normal voice, expressed his dislike for the planet and then noticed that Thor was taking their food.

" _Excuse me, that's our food."_

Tony turned to Thor. "You are aware a human is there? They'll need at least some food to survive."

Quill nodded in agreement.

Gamora asked why Thanos would go to Knowhere with Thor answering that the Reality Stone was there with the Collector. Viewer-Quill was about to mention how stupid that plan was but his movie counterpart beat him to it. Gamora then asked how he knew Thanos wouldn't go for any of the other stones.

" _There are six Stones out there. Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it last week when he decimated Xandar. He stole the Space Stone from me when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people."_

Quill and Rocket felt the mood drop when that was told. _So defeating Ronan was all for nothing…_ They thought.

Thor, on the other hand, felt a small glimmer of hope as not all the Asgardians had been killed.

" _The Time and Mind Stones are safe on Earth, they're with the Avengers."_

" _The Avengers?" Quill asked, confused._

"You knew the Time Stone was on Earth the whole time?" Fury asked.

"At the moment, no, I did not know that," Thor clarified.

"And Quill, how long have you been away from Earth?" Natasha asked.

"Well, I did say earlier I'd been taken when I was a kid so… Twenty or so years, maybe?"

Thor then talked about how no one had seen the Soul Stone for centuries. The camera lingered on Gamora. The way the music muffled Thor for a bit, once again tipped the audience off but more so the two Guardians.

 _If she knows where it is, why would she not tell us?_ Quill thought.

She then announced where they would have to go; Knowhere. But Thor shut her down by saying they had to go to Niðavellir.

"Nidave-what?" Peter said, messing up the pronunciation.

Rocket stood up and talked about how he wanted to go there. Viewer-Quill let out a snort when the movie-Thor called Rocket a rabbit and the rest of the Earth-based heroes couldn't help a small, good-natured eye roll at the mix up of animal species. Thor and Rocket just looked at them, confused.

"Thanks for considering me the captain," Rocket then said after Thor's movie counterpart made that mistake.

Quill's counterpart pointed out that he, in fact, was the captain, but everyone ignored him. Rocket led Thor to the extra pod while Quill tried to stop them.

" _Wait, what kinda weapon are we talkin' about here?"_

"Yeah, what type of weapon _are_ you talking about?" Clint said, once again voicing everyone's thoughts.

" _The Thanos-killing kind."_

"Ah," Clint said.

But Gamora interjected by saying how they had to go to Knowhere. Rocket offered the solution; Him, Groot and Thor would go to Niðavellir while Quill, Gamora, Drax and Mantis would go to Knowhere. That was agreed, and soon Team Niðavellir ejected the pod and took off for their destination.

"Let's just hope it goes according to—"T'Challa started, but was soon interrupted by a small chorus of "The fuck?" as the next scene started to play.

* * *

 _A/N: Aww, thanks to those... Three people that have reviewed XD (But still, thank you). Otherwise, thank you for favouriting and/or following. In all honesty, if you're like me and don't really know what to put in a review, that's fine—Knowing that people at least are interested is really good._

 _And for all those who read the first version, yay! We're finally in original material! Fun fact: I actually hated Chapter 3 (aka the stuff in the first half) of the last one but because of the Endgame trailer, this turned into one of my favourite chapters._

 _In other news, you may have noticed that I combined two scenes. Unless I feel as though the next scene doesn't really fit or I can't be bothered, from now on, each chapter will have two scenes. And between today and next... Tuesday (?), I'll be posting as many chapters as I can, though that might be only one other chapter._


	5. Chapter 5

The screen showed two people in a room, one on a bed and the other looking out a window. A round of "The fuck?" echoed through the Avengers while our Earth-based heroes shared a look of equal confusion.

"Who are they?" Fury asked.

"The one on the bed appears to be Wanda and the other… no idea," T'Challa answered.

It cuts to Vision and then to Wanda, who asks if the Stone was playing up again.

" _Vis, is it the Stone again?"_

"Then the other must be Vision," Shuri concluded.

"That doesn't look like an android or robot to me," Tony remarked.

Vision removes his hand and the viewers realize that the Mind Stone is in his forehead. Wanda gets up and Vision answers her question with an "I don't know" answer. He moves her hand and asks her to feel the Stone.

"Are they in a relationship?" Peter asked Tony, briefly forgetting about that this Tony was from the past.

The Avengers and Nick Fury watch in fascination as Wanda's red energy is released from her hand and tugs slightly at the Mind Stone. She mentions how she doesn't feel the Stone, only him. The two share a kiss before the next cut but the viewers can't help but feel a little sad for the two, seeing as one has an Infinity Stone attached to their body.

The next cut shows them walking through a night-time street in Scotland. Wanda is talking about catching a train with Vision trying to talk her out of making him leave. They continue to talk, having stopped outside a shop, and again the sadness increased with what each viewer knew.

The two stop talking as Wanda notices the TV in the shop is playing the news. It shows Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian from the fight in New York. Wanda asks what they are with Vision saying that they were the ones the Stone warned him about. Vision finally makes his mind up after seeing the Tony Stark was missing and begin to leave.

As Wanda tried to walk him out of it, Corvus Glaive came up behind the android and stabbed him. The sudden noise caused the viewers to jump in surprise, not expecting it. Vision changed back to his original look while Wanda immediately got ready to fight. However, she was blasted away by Proxima Midnight's weapon.

The viewers cringed at the sight of Glaive's spear being used to remove the Stone.

"Really, another telekinetic?" Fury mumbled as he watched Wanda fly herself and Vision away.

" _The blade, it stopped me from phasing," Vision gasped out._

"He can phase? How?" Tony voiced out loud.

"Remember, you do invent him," Shuri reminded him.

Corvus Glaive leads Vision into a fight while Proxima deals with Wanda. Vision and Glaive are fighting on the roof of a cathedral. The viewers raise an impressed eyebrow at the energy beam Vision shoots with the Stone.

"His spear can counter that?" Clint noticed.

"And the Mind Stone can do that… Actually, suddenly a few things make a bit more sense," Natasha said, thinking about how Loki used it in his sceptre.

The refracted beam cuts along the ground. An echo of Vision reached Wanda, who quickly blasted Proxima away before levitating herself. She blasts Glaive away from Vision and takes the android. She uses her powers but Proxima Midnight blasts them into a train station. The aliens appear shortly afterwards. Wanda conjures up two energy balls while a train goes past.

"Cool shot," Peter mutters.

But something catches Midnight's eyes, which caused Wanda to also turn her head. The viewers are confused and are about to question it but see that between each train carriage, a figure is there.

"I wonder who it is…" Steve mumbled.

The train finished going past. Proxima Midnight promptly threw her weapon at the newcomer, who caught it, much to the alien's surprise. The figure emerged from the shadow, revealing it to be Steve… With a beard.

All the viewers—including the future people—move their heads back in shock and don't say anything of a solid ten seconds.

"What. The. Hel—" Steve was drowned out by the other expressions of surprise.

"So apparently at some point in the future, we hate each other. But I'm going to say it now; A beard almost suits you."

Falcon entered, kicking Midnight into the station's café.

"Who's that?" Clint asked, getting over his shock quickly.

"Sam Wilson. Or Falcon," T'Challa answered.

Onscreen-Steve threw the weapon to Natasha who was running (in turn, Tony made a comment how bleached blonde hair didn't suit her). The weapon ends up back with Proxima who is about to attack a downed Natasha but Steve blocks it with Glaives' spear. As the fight progresses, the fighters—mainly the spies—can't help but marvel at the how each attack from either group is either dealt or blocked quickly. Soon, the two Black Order members are cornered, with Corvus Glaive heavily wounded. They leave and the spear is taken up as well.

While the rest of the scene played out, the viewers took an opportunity to discuss what'd just happened.

"Well, that was certainly an unexpected amount of action," Tony said, but no one heard him.

However, Steve had noticed the changes of him and Natasha and turned to face the future people. "Are you willing to explain anything else?"

Each future person sighed, realizing that now they would have to tell them about the Civil War. It took time—mainly because T'Challa was explaining most of it, with the occasional interruption from Peter. As the King got up to revealing that Bucky was still alive, Shuri quickly interrupted him.

"Musa ukubaxelela nge-White Wolf."

"Ngoba kutheni?"

"Ndifuna ukubona indlela asabela ngayo."

T'Challa rolled his eyes. " _Ukugqithisa kakhulu_?"

Everyone was at a loss to what they were saying.

"Well…?"

T'Challa wrapped the story up quickly. He mentioned how he followed behind Stark, Rodgers and one other person (he didn't what Shuri to change anything in revenge) had gone to Siberia.

"But in all honesty, I don't know what happened in that bunker. Only that Zemo had shown or told you something," he ended.

It left a bad taste in the Avengers as they tried to come to reason with that knowledge. Despite reassuring themselves that they would make sure that didn't happen, they overlooked one, very important detail. Strange knew that they were all overlooking something but couldn't work it out, which annoyed him. The answer would dawn on him later.

Sam asked Steve where they should go, with the simple answer being: _"Home"_.

So of course, the next scene would not answer the viewers' queries of where that was. Instead, it cut to a black screen with muffled screaming. It showed a mother was telling her daughter to be quiet and trying to convince herself that they'd be safe. Confusion and dread filled each person. An explosion sounded on the side and showed the full view of the two.

"Is that…?" Steve trailed off, hoping—no, praying—that this wasn't a flashback of Gamora's.

A chitauri soldier broke open the door and soon the screen was filled with the alien species attacking and shooting everyone and everything in sight.

"Oh shit, shit, shit," was what each Avenger had a variation of.

Briefly taking his mind of the movie, Rocket asked, "You know them?"

"In 2012, they came. They came and attacked Earth," Stephen clarified. He wouldn't say he was scared, but rather anxious at was being shown.

The young Gamora is being taken away by a foot soldier, screaming for her mother. Faintly in the background, the viewers could hear Ebony Maw. Quill, finally putting two and two together, refused to believe that this was Gamora.

" _Choose a side or die," Ebony Maw called out._

The Earth-based heroes swallowed, attempting to get rid of their dried mouths. _This is what could have happened_ , _a version of this is Thanos's plan_ is what each one thought. They found it sickening.

Thanos appeared, decked in his armour. Their fears—especially Quill, Rocket and Steve's—were heightened when the young Zehobereian confirmed herself to be Gamora. He faced Gamora and spoke to her before leading her away. Bile grew in some peoples throat as they wanted to scream at her to leave, to not follow the Mad Titan.

They walk between the two groups to a structure that looked similar to a Japanese _sandō_. Thanos kneels down to Gamora's level and takes out a silver, opposite bladed knife.

" _Look, pretty isn't it?" He put it on one finger and it stayed still. "Perfectly balanced, as all things should be. Too much to one side or the other… Here. You try."_

He gave it to Gamora. In the background, the viewers could just hear Maw give the order to kill one of the sides while Gamora attempted to balance the knife herself.

The viewers couldn't help the empty feeling in their hearts nor could some help their eyes water. Rocket, but more so Quill, were hit the hardest. Thanos had taken her, made her believe she was the last of her kind under the pretence of saving her. As they realized Thanos had taken everything from Gamora. She had no one for decades until recently. With the scene in mind, the viewers doubt they would ever forget it.

Young Gamora heard the screams and turned to see what was going on but Thanos stopped her. The scene grew more haunting as Thanos praised her for the balanced knife on her finger. Before cutting, the final shot showed one group on the ground.

* * *

 _A/N: Originally this chapter was going to end at the end of the Knowhere scene but with this ending, I felt as though continuing it would feel odd._

 _So how did you like this chapter? Did you like how it was more description-based reactions or do you prefer dialogue-based reactions? A mix of both but prefer seeing one type of reaction more? Which one? And what do you think Avengers and Co. have overlooked? Thanks for all you who reviewed from last chapter and welcome new-people-who-have-followed-this-fanfiction. Also, if you're signed in and left a review but I haven't PMed you a response, then sorry but either I didn't know what to say or because I missed it and thought I already replied._

 _Guess review responses:_

 _Shiranai Atsune: And here's another update! No script because I didn't want the same thing that happened to Ver 1 happening to this one._

 _Guest: Thanks! I've been a bit nervous with the balance of reactions and if certain characters are OOC or not._

 _TeamTonySpidey: Aw, thank you :)_

 _Translations:_

 _Musa ukubaxelela nge-White Wolf. -_ _Don't tell them about the White Wolf._

 _Ngoba kutheni? - Why not?_

 _Ndifuna ukubona indlela asabela ngayo. - I want to see his reaction._

 _Ukugqithisa kakhulu? - Overdramatic much?_


	6. Chapter 6

The next cut gave the previous scene the sense of a flashback as it showed Gamora thinking. Quill came in, asking her which type of grenade would be better to use against Thanos.

"You do realize that grenades will probably not work, right?" Tony criticised attempting to get back to his usual demeanour.

"Until now, I didn't even know what Thanos looked like, little alone know what could harm him," Quill argued.

However, Gamora ignored Quill.

" _I need to ask you a favour."_

" _Yeah, sure."_

" _One way or another, the path we're on leads to Thanos."_

Quill remarked that because that, that was why he asked about the grenades. He quickly double backed and asked what the favour was. Gamora looked out into space while talking as if she knew what would happen.

" _If things go wrong… If Thanos gets me… I want you to promise me… you'll kill me."_

The air was heavy with the weight of the request.

"I have the slightest feeling she's going to die," Peter said.

"Wow," Rocket said sarcastically. "Thanks for reigniting our hopes."

Onscreen-Quill is confused. He asks for a clarification, with Gamora saying that she knew something Thanos didn't. She elaborates by saying that it would put the universe at even more risk. Quill asks if he could know but Gamora insists that if he knew, he would have to die.

"I wonder what it could be…" Bruce said out loud.

Stephen and Thor thought they knew but—if it were true—how did she find it? And when did she find the location of the Soul Stone?

Rocket raises his fur above his eye like an eyebrow and couldn't help the smirk as Quill and Gamora shared a kiss. _Oh thank you Terran movie for all the new teasing opportunities you've given me_ , he thought.

After Drax's attempt at being invisible (Peter and Shuri getting into an argument whether or not it worked, with Peter saying that Drax hadn't been there before and Shuri saying that it was an editing mistake), it showed the _Benatar_ flying through murky space. The skull-looking planet of Knowhere came up and they flew through the eye.

"Is the planet, by any chance, a skull?" Stephen asked.

"The decapitated head of a celestial," Rocket corrected him.

"Celestial?" Fury asked for more clarification.

"Ancient beings. No one really knows who or what they are," Quill said.

The location card shows that it is Knowhere. Quill and Drax remark how empty it seems based on the ships scanners. They land and creep up behind where they hear the Collector gasping and pleading.

 _Phew_ , Clint thought. _Just in time_. But something told him that he was being far too optimistic.

Thanos talks back to the Collector, each word practically being spat. The Guardians creep forward slowly. Quill holds a hand up signal to them to stop, but the other three Guardians continue. The viewers, excluding Quill, snicker.

Thanos continues to taunt Tivan into giving up the Reality Stone.

"Huh. I actually admire how he's denying it," Rocket said.

However, Thor said something that made Rocket rethink his previous words. "No. This isn't right. Something's wrong."

Drax takes out two curved daggers and vows his final revenge. The Earth-based heroes don't need to ask what he was talking about. Quill tries to stop him, by saying the Thanos didn't have the Stone, but Drax ignored him. As he starts to push past Quill, Mantis takes action by putting him to sleep. A loud _clang_ ing sound echoes throughout the theatre speakers. The viewers shift uncomfortably at the smile Thanos gives.

Thanos throws the Collector into a nearby container. And starts walking towards the Guardians. Quill tells Gamora and Mantis to go right but as he finishes, Gamora takes off running.

"What's she doing?!" Clint yells.

The others are confused but impressed as Gamora swings her sword against Thanos. However, he catches it and easily snaps it. But what surprises everyone the most is the broken sword being thrust into Thanos's neck and the double-bladed knife from the flashback quickly pushed into his chest. Gamora pulls the sword half away. Thanos looks down at the knife and pulls it out, wheezing and gasping.

"Well, that was quick," Clint voices, surprised.

" _Why?" He falls down. "Why you daughter?"_

Thanos holds his weak hand out and Gamora breaks down into sobs.

"Why's she crying? Her "father"," Shuri puts quotation fingers up. ", is a monster."

Tony stayed silent, not wishing to answer.

The movie briefly shows Drax getting up before cutting to the Collector congratulating Gamora while she nods in sadness.

" _Is that sadness I sense in you daughter?" Thanos's voice called out._

"Um, what?" Everyone said, confused.

Thor buried his head in his hands. "That's what is wrong. He already has it."

Gamora looks up in shock. Thanos continues talking from nowhere. The camera pans to "dead" Thanos and a red, dust-like image erases the body. The same substance does the same to the rest of the surrounding area, showing Knowhere burning, with flames in every direction.

"Is that the work of the Reality Stone?" Fury said, just loud enough for Thor to hear. The god nodded in response.

" _But one never knows for sure. Reality is often disappointing," the real Thanos says, walking out of his illusion._

Peter is about to make a reference to crippling depression but thinks better of it.

" _That is, it was. Now… reality can be whatever I want."_

He moves the Infinity Gauntlet, showing the Reality Stone next to the Space Stone. Gamora says, said more like a statement, that somehow he knew she'd come. Thanos replied with needing it to happen. He says how there is something they need to discuss. Gamora, recognising what is about to happen, quickly picks her broken sword up, but Thanos grabs her.

Drax, not holding back any longer, yells and runs forward. Gasps are exchanged as Thanos uses the Reality Stone to turn Drax to chunks and Mantis into ribbons.

"Holy shit!" Tony yells. "Just how powerful is that thing?"

"All the Stones are powerful," Thor says.

"And do you not take any notice of what's going on in the world?" Fury said, briefly thinking about what happened in Greenwich.

Quill walked up to Thanos, his gun in the air and ready to shoot. He taunts Thanos but Gamora tries to remind him of his promise. He doesn't catch on and he continues to taunt Thanos.

" _Not him," Gamora finally gets through_.

The heaviness returns to the viewers. Quill is trying his best not to watch the movie. He can't bring himself to watch Gamora's inevitable death.

Onscreen-Quill continues to look strong but it's obvious he doesn't want to go through with it. However, he lowers her gun straight at Gamora.

" _Oh daughter, you expect too much from him," Thanos says. "She's asked, hasn't she? Do it."_

Seeing as how Quill is still reluctant, Thanos pushes Gamora forward, never once letting her go. He then orders Quill to shoot her, taunting him. The atmosphere in the room grows thicker when Gamora says what she believes to be her final words. To Quill, they are.

Each viewer felt their heart almost stop beating when Onscreen-Quill pulled the trigger. However, all that came out were bubbles. It shows Thanos with the Reality Stone lit. With it, Thanos causes the gun to disappear before opening a portal and exiting through it with Gamora.

The room is silent while the rest of the scene plays.

Peter awkwardly apologies. "Ok… I honestly didn't expect that to happen…"

Tony shushed Peter before he could dig himself into an even bigger hole.

The tension in the air lessened somewhat as the next scene started, showing a quinjet flying in to land at the Avengers Compound. In the next cut, Secretary Ross is heard talking to Rhodey.

"Oh great. Ross is in this," Bruce mumbled, only just loud enough of some people to realize he said something.

Ross and Rhodey are talking about what happened to Vision. Ross mentions how he remembered Rhodey's signature also being on the Accords, in which Rhodey replied by saying he'd paid for it.

"He broke his legs?" Tony said, noticing the braces.

"I asked about it once. He said it was just a miscalculated shot. I think it was from Vision," said Peter, providing the unnecessary information.

They heard a beep, which made Rhodey and the holographic Ross turn around. It shows Steve, Natasha, Wanda and Sam helping Vision. They walk into the room, with Steve greeting Ross.

"You know criminals aren't always polite?" Tony said, turning to Steve.

Steve didn't say anything in turn, just shrugging his shoulders. He didn't know what his future-self had been thinking, so how could Steve defend it?

" _The world's on fire, and you think all is forgiven?" Ross asked._

" _I'm not looking for forgiveness and I'm way past asking permission."_

"Ignore what I just said."

" _Earth just lost her best defender," Steve said._ Viewer-Steve is honestly somewhat confused at that comment. _"So we're here to fight. And if you wanna stand in our way, we'll fight you too."_

The Avengers and Fury are taken by surprise at what Onscreen-Steve had said.

"Damn," Clint whistled. "We really did screw up in the future."

The call is disconnected and Rhodey greets the fugitives properly. Steve's exterior falls to what the Avengers are more used to (but still distant from that) and soon Bruce walks into the room. He and Natasha awkwardly greet each other. Tony can't help the burst of laughter come from him.

" _This is awkward," Sam muttered._

"Your friend is right," Natasha said, a little confused.

The next scene consists of the seven of them in another room. They are talking about how the Black Order must be coming back at some point.

" _We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?" Bruce asked, still out of touch with the years he missed._

"Yeah, where is Clint?" Clint asked.

"After the Accords—" T'Challa starts. He stops when he realized the movie was explaining it as well.

" _After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families. They're on house arrest," Natasha said._

"First of all, Scott? Who's that?" Steve asked.

Peter's eyes go wide. "Oh… He was that Ant-Man guy, right?" Unfortunately for Peter, he was the only Team Iron Man person there who'd stayed with Tony.

Fury frowned. Ant-Man? When going over SHIELDs files during the planning of the Avengers Initiative, Fury had read some of the Ant-Man (and subsequently the Wasp) files. But after 1989, Hank Pym had quit and thus the Ant-Man never came back.

So who exactly did he give the suit too? Fury wondered. Like Rodgers, a plan was slowly forming in Fury's mind and new ideas were added at every new bit of information.

"Right then. And second, Clint, you have a family?" Tony asked, for once voicing the surprise of the others.

Fury and Natasha couldn't help but feel sorry, but mostly amused, at Clint's reaction.

"Yeah, you lot."

"Aw, he finally admitted he loves us," Tony says, adding to the sarcasm.

The spies roll their eyes while the rest just laugh. Someone good soul resumed the movie after they'd realized they would miss things.

The movie continued. Bruce told the group about Thanos and how he wouldn't stop retrieving the Stones. He suddenly realised that would mean Vision would be lost. The atmosphere in the room didn't go back to the way it had been, but the brief jokey mood had mostly disappeared.

" _Then we have to protect it," Natasha firmly said._

" _No, we have to destroy it," Vision corrected her. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head. About its nature… But also its composition." Vision turned to Wanda and started to address her. "I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps… its molecular integrity could fail."_

The hearts of those present dropped slightly, as they connected the dots; The Mind Stone had given Wanda her powers. Now she must destroy it, potentially also killing the only person left in her life.

Vision and Wanda discuss what removing the Stone would result in. He says that one life could not stand in the way with the rest of the universe at stake. Steve mentions how it should, with Vision pointing out how he had done it himself. Bruce stepped in. He talked about how the different minds that helped create Vision were learning from each other. The three scientists present in the theatre took this knowledge and started thinking.

"If they could extract the Stone…" Tony started.

"Then they'd be able to keep Vision, not having him destroyed," Bruce said, almost in time with his movie counterpart.

However, Onscreen-Bruce said that he wouldn't be able to do it.

" _Well, you better find someone and somewhere fast," Rhodey remarked._

The camera lingered on Steve's face. He lifted his head. Shuri, who had switched off during the last exchange, snapped her head up when she heard familiar, Wakandan-style music.

" _I know somewhere," Steve said._

The movie suddenly cut to a statue of a panther and a wide lake beside a city. The camera panned around, showing more of the city and surrounding landscape.

"Is that…" Peter said quietly in awe.

"Wakanda," T'Challa and Shuri replied a small swell of pride in the latter.

The movie then cuts to outside the city, with T'Challa, Okoye and some Kingsguard members walking to somewhere. They are discussing which tribes and people would be able to fight for the upcoming battle.

" _This one may be tired of war, but the White Wold has rested long enough," T'Challa says._

The movie cuts to someone who throws something onto a cart, but the camera is too far away for the viewers to get a proper look. T'Challa rolls his eyes at how Shuri is bouncing excitedly in her seat.

"Who's the White Wolf?" Steve asked. "Didn't you say something about them earlier?"

The Kingsguard members place a large case on a haystack and open it. Over the peak of the case, Bucky walks up, with Steve completely losing his mind.

"Bucky's alive?" He yelled in shock after a second.

Shuri cackles behind him at the reaction. The rest of the viewers have no real reaction, having not really known about Bucky, but Fury does raise an eyebrow at the reveal. Peter (who may or may not have heard a rant or two,) noticed the scowl on Tony's face before it disappeared two seconds later.

Bucky, looking up from the new vibranium arm asks where the fight is before the next scene plays. For the next few minutes, Steve is absolutely silent.

 _How is he still alive?_ He thought. _He fell from a train, high in the mountains! No ordinary person could survive that fall…_ And then it dawned on him. _Zola's experiments… were super soldier experiments? But if Bucky's a super soldier as well, where is he?_

* * *

 _A/N: *Starts crying and questioning everything* What did I deserve to earn so many follows on this? WHAT I ASK YOU!_

 _Anyway, for the past few days I've been writing this practically non-sto—Ok, that's a bit of a lie. If you're reading this in many weeks/months/years after I published this chapter, you can ignore the following._

 _I suspect that this will be the last chapter that I'll be uploading this year. For the next three or so weeks I'll be spending time overseas and won't have an internet connection. I could take the DVD and player but 9 times out of 10 the laptop player stops working._ _I could also record the DVD and write more but I want to take a break and work on two other works (another MCU fanfic and original story). I might be able to add one more chapter before I leave but I'm not sure so that's why I'm doing it now.  
At times I may have internet but it will only be enough to respond to reviews and load stuff. So I guess I'll just say it now: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :)_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!_

* * *

"Uh, what are those?" Peter asked, pointing at the screen.

Rocket snapped out of being unfocused state and looked at the screen. It showed Strange with long, sharp glass needles pointing at him in every direction.

The doctor looked a bit closer and furrowed his eyebrows. "They… They look slightly similar to tools used for microsurgery."

As the camera moves, it shows Stephen is also being held up by Ebony Maw's telekinesis. Stephen wakes up and that's when Maw decides to start speaking.

" _In all the time I've served Thanos… I have never failed him."_ Chills rippled through each viewer. _"If I were to reach our rendezvous on Titan—"_

"Titan? As in, the moon?" Fury asked.

"Titan isn't a moon," Rocket tells him, with everyone apart from Quill looking back at him in varying degrees of shock. "It's a planet that was destroyed centuries ago."

"The Eyepatch Guy is referring to Saturn's moon," Quill says.

"Saturn?" Rocket asked, pulling a face in confusion.

"I still find it amazing how you know so little of this solar system," Quill mumbles, pinching his nose in slight frustration.

"— _With the Time Stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be… judgement."_

Some of the viewers squirm at the sight of the needles slowly making their way into Stephen. Viewer-Strange pulled a face, still not quite believing what the alien had said earlier about wishing for death.

" _Give me… the Stone," Ebony Maw whispers as it shows the Eye of Agamotto starting to open. But Stephen refuses to speak._

The movie suddenly cuts to Tony who looks over a platform to what is happening. The Cloak of Levitation comes up behind him, causing Tony to jump and point a blaster at the Cloak. He doesn't, after realizing what it is.

" _Wow, you're a seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you?" He asks, not expecting an answer._

"He is," Stephen answers.

 _From the ceiling, Peter, still with his mask on, drops down. "Yeah, uh, speaking of loyalty,"_

" _What the…"_

" _I know what you're gonna say," Peter says quickly, the mask snapping down._

Tony, who hadn't even known the boy existed until they got to this movie theatre, glanced over at Peter, who had just buried his face in his hands. He mumbled something that Tony couldn't hear before looking back up.

" _You should not be here," Tony says._

" _I was gonna go home—"_

" _I don't wanna hear it."_

"— _But it was such a long way down and I just thought about you on the way…"_

" _And now I gotta hear it," Tony says, giving up._

"… _and kinda stuck to the side of the ship. And this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way. So, if anything, it's kinda your fault that I'm here."_

Clint and Shuri couldn't help the burst of laughter escape them while everyone just smirked and the Avengers just thinking that _finally, someone is pointing out Tony Stark's mistakes._ Meanwhile, Tony whipped his head to face Peter, who as well couldn't help doubling over in small, silent laughter. Confused—and somewhat hurt in a way—Tony turned back to the others, then to Peter again, and so on, trying to work out what just happened. Giving up, he effectively shut Clint, Shuri and Peter up by pressing _play_ to resume the movie.

Even then the occasional snort escaped before the room finally settled again.

" _What did you just say?" Tony asks._

 _Peter stutters, saying that he takes it back. Continuing to explain himself, "And now, I'm here in space."_

Tony couldn't help but smacking his hand against his head.

" _Yeah, right where I didn't want you to be. This isn't Coney Island. This isn't a field trip. This is a one-way ticket," Tony tells Peter with all seriousness. "You hear me? Don't pretend your thought this through."_

" _No, I did think this through,"_

"You know, I still find it kind of hard to believe that there's more than one person on Earth who can argue with Tony without giving up. Or even better, shut him up," Natasha whispers to Clint, who nods in agreement.

" _You could not have possibly thought this through."_

" _You can't be a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man if there's no neighbourhood," Peter finally gets through what he'd been trying to say all along._

What the web-slinger just said resonated through everyone present. If there's nothing left to protect, then what's the point of them… being them?

The look on Onscreen-Tony's face made it clear that even he understood.

" _Ok, that didn't really make sense, but you know what I'm trying to say."_

"Kid, don't lower yourself. It's bad for you," Tony says, speaking mostly from experience and also voicing some of the other thoughts from people.

Giving up, Onscreen-Tony leads Peter to the edge of the platform and points towards Stephen and Maw. He asks Peter what his plan is, with the simple answer-question of _"Did you ever see this really old movie, Aliens?"_

The sudden cut back to Ebony Maw and Stephen, with the latter screaming in pain, caused a couple of people to jump a little at it.

" _Painful, aren't they? They were originally designed for microsurgery,"_

In the background, Natasha, Clint and Fury could hear the sounds of an engine, with the sound of a _thud_ shortly following, which everyone—both movie and audience—could hear.

" _, and any one of them…" Maw stops and turns around to face Iron Man who has both hand blasters up. "… Could end your friend's life in an instant."_

" _I gotta tell you, he's not really my friend. Saving his life is more of a… professional courtesy."_

The viewers looked on, some with a raised eyebrow, in interest.

Ebony Maw, however, isn't fazed and continues talking while lifting various metal containers and scraps.

" _You've saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine."_

" _Yeah, but the kid's seen more movies," Tony simply responses back._

A rocket explosive ejects from the suit's shoulder and blasts a hole in the wall. The vacuum of space pulls Maw and the metal out.

"Oh wow, it actually—" Peter starts. "Oh."

Due to Maw's telekinesis being cut, Strange is also pulled. The Cloak tries to stop him from being pulled into space, but the vacuum is too strong and eventually pulls Strange away.

"Yeah, no. You're unkillable," Clint finally announces, as Peter jumps into the vacuum to successfully grab Stephen with a web.

A small cheer erupts from some at the cut to show that Ebony Maw had frozen and died.

Back inside the ship—with the hole repaired—Stephen and Tony start discussing (or rather, arguing) over the situation at hand.

"And for the record, Peter, Doctor Strange _is_ my actual name."

"Well, prior to this, I didn't know you were a doctor."

Back onscreen, giving up on Peter, Stephen walks forward to Tony who's standing on the control platform.

" _Can we control it? Fly us home?" Strange asks. Tony doesn't answer, so he asks if he's listening._

" _Yeah?"_

" _Can you get us home?"_

" _Yeah, I heard you. I'm thinking I'm not so sure we should."_

"What!? Are you crazy?" Clint asks, voicing the thoughts of everyone there.

Onscreen-Strange tells Tony what has already been made clear: The Time Stone could not be taken to Thanos. And also that—supposedly—Tony didn't actually understand the situation.

" _What? No. It's you who doesn't understand. That Thanos has been inside my head for six years since he sent an army to New York and now he's back," Tony says, each word slowly rising before shouting the last part._

Everyone looks at Tony, all who are surprised by the revelation. Meanwhile, Tony just looks down, a couple of mumbled words escaping his lips.

"You knew? This whole time?" Steve asked.

The billionaire nodded. "I knew something was out there. Something worse than just the Chitauri. And now I know," he mutters the last sentence, looking back up.

" _And I don't know what to do. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his. But you saw what they did, what they can do."_

The people from the future pondered over what Tony's onscreen counterpart had said. They remembered Ultron, the maniac murder robot created by the one and only Tony Stark. But upon further realization from T'Challa and Stephen (who remembered it more clearly), they realized that the Iron Legion had been used at the start.

 _Was Ultron originally meant to be peaceful, since maybe—just maybe—the Iron Legion had been that too? Was Ultron supposed to be somewhat of a peacekeeper or a guard around Earth?_

Eventually, for the movie, Tony finally gets around to telling Stephen what he plans; Taking the fight to Titan.

" _All right, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand: If it comes to saving you or the kid or the Time Stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die."_

"Well that's a boost of confidence," Peter mutters.

" _I can't," Stephen continues. ", because the universe depends on it."_

Again, Natasha subconsciously filed that information away for later. But a seed of doubt started to grow within her. That something isn't right. That something extraordinarily _bad_ will happen.

Onscreen, Tony walks to Peter, who looks up when he's addressed.

" _All right kid," Tony says, sighing while tapping his hand on each of the teenager's shoulders like his knighting him. "You're an Avenger now."_

Peter stares at the movie screen in wide-eyed shock while the Avengers look at Tony in surprise.

"You are aware he's a kid, right?" Bruce asks, practically squinting in the darkened room.

"Tony, you can't just make anyone, much less a kid, an Avenger," Steve criticises.

While the Captain and billionaire argue about people becoming Avengers, T'Challa just shakes his head. Shuri looks at him and asks what he muttered.

"Just that I think it's a little hypocritical that the Captain is criticising Stark while he also took Wanda and made her on the run from the law, despite being incredibly dangerous," T'Challa answers in Xhosa.

"But she isn't really," Shuri says back, also in their native language.

"I… wouldn't be so sure of that."

As Steve and Tony finally reached the end of the unfinished argument (because Fury and Rocket were getting annoyed,) everyone turned back to the movie with a kindred spirit unpausing the movie.

It showed three Q-Ships returning to Thanos's ship, with a sliver of panic from the audience members as they thought Tony, Pater and Stephen had arrived at the ship. As it would turn out, they needn't have worried.

The movie then showed them a vast and mostly empty room. What looked like cloudy water, which easily could've been glass showing the gasses from the nearby nebula, surrounded bridge leading to a tall spire at the end. It then cut to Gamora, sitting down with Thanos walking over to her, a tiny bowl in hand.

" _I thought you might be hungry," he reasons._

"That son of a bitch," Clint can't help but growl.

Gamora throws the bowl to the nearby chair and mentions how she always hated it and then later, the room, the ship, _her life_. Rocket and Quill pick up on the fact the Thanos said how he always wanted her to sit on the chair. And just like Natasha, a seed of doubt was planted within them. Though it'd been planted in an ever-growing field of doubt.

Even though everyone had a deep-set hatred of Thanos, shown in his actions from the movie alone, they couldn't help the surprise and curiosity that appeared within them. Instead of gloating, standing over Gamora or sitting on the chair, he looked… sympathetic. As if he knew that it was wrong. Or disappointment that she didn't believe in his mission anymore.

" _You told me that too. Every day," Thanos says, climbing a few steps before sitting on one. "For almost twenty years."_

" _I was a child when you took me."_ A pang of sorrow went through both Rocket and (especially) Quill.

" _I saved you," Thanos reasons again._

Gamora looks back at him and shakes her head, stating with a clear _no_ that he was wrong. _"We were happy on my home planet."_

" _Going to bed hungry, scrounging for scraps. Your planet was on the brink of collapse. I'm the one who stopped that. Do you know what's happened since then? The children born have known nothing but full bellies and clear skies. It's a paradise."_

Tony looks at Thanos on the screen. "You murdered them. That's the opposite of saving," he mutters, not even realizing that at one point, he had almost the exact same reasoning for his weapons. After Gamora says nearly the exact same thing, it dawns on him.

" _A small price to pay for salvation."_

" _Your insane," Gamora tells him._

" _Little one, it's a simple calculus," Thanos starts. "This universe is finite, its resources finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correction."_

" _You don't know that!"_

"I am _so_ glad that she's rational," Tony says out loud, trying to get out of his uncomfortable realization.

" _I'm the only one who knows that. At least, I'm the only one with the will to act on it."_

Tony almost runs out of his seat screaming but doesn't. Nobody else seemed to notice. Not Tony, nor the subtle comparison.

Onscreen, Thanos got up and explained how Gamora had the same will, the same attitude, once. Everyone—both audience and Gamora—found it insulting that this murderer would _ever_ consider Gamora his daughter.

" _Everything I hate about myself you taught me," Gamora informs Thanos._

" _And in doing so made you the fiercest woman in the galaxy. That's why I trusted you to find the Soul Stone."_

A series of "oohs" went around at the confirmation except for Thor and Doctor Strange. Not to say they weren't surprised but the question still remained: How did she know?

" _I'm sorry I disappointed you," Gamora tells Thanos, attempting to lie._

" _I am disappointed. But not because you didn't find it, but because you did. And you lied."_

Chills ran through each and every one of those present. They'd all seen what happened when someone did something opposing the Mad Titan. But not what would happen to his "daughter" outright lying to him.

* * *

 _A/N: Does anyone want to have a guess at who took every opportunity and excuse not to write this chapter over the past three days since I got back from being overseas?_ _Ok, but in all honesty though, my laptop was playing up on Saturday but seems fine now._

 _Also, I just want to say, that (even if your like me and not much of a Star Wars fan) if you have not watched Vader Episode 1: Shards of the Past (a fan film on YouTube) then you should because it's like not having watched the Endgame trailer.  
... Unless of course you're deliberately not watching said trailer because you want to be completely surprised._

 _Anyway, here is a massive THANK YOU and WELCOME to all those who have followed, favourited and reviewed in the past two weeks. I honestly can't believe that two weeks ago I only had about 100 follows on this story and now it's gotten an extra 132 follows. Because of that, I'll keep the cover title as A Warning From the Future but the actual title will be Watching Avengers Infinity War Ver2 as it's easier to find._

 _Guest review response:_

 _PJ: Thanks! Hopefully this chapter is better, though I do tend to only have dialogue from the movie if I'm having a (uh... direct?) reaction from it._

 _One last thing, thanks to FTomato, read the part in the last chapter where they're talking about where Clint and Scott are because I added something extra._


	8. Chapter 8

The movie cut to a door opening with Thanos and Gamora looking into the room. The latter looked around, slightly confused before walking forward. A gate opened, looking like weirdly shaped teeth and a blue light shined down from the ceiling, casting the centre in light. Gamora walked forward and it showed Nebula being held up by the light.

Rocket pulled a face. "What she doing here?"

But as both the camera and Gamora moved to Nebula's side, it showed the cyborg having been torn apart.

Everyone stared at the screen in shock. The two Guardians wondered how she had ended up in Thanos' ship and the other Earth heroes having never seen something like it.

"Is she a cyborg?" Shuri asked, her voice a little soft.

Quill nodded, before turning his head and realizing that the Wakandan wouldn't have noticed it. "Yeah. Nebula and Gamora have… a history."

Back onscreen, Gamora tentatively placed a hand on Nebula's side before telling Thanos to stop.

" _Some time ago, your sister snuck aboard this ship to kill me," Thanos explained._

"Oh," Rocket let on.

While Gamora continued to plead with Thanos, he continued.

" _And very nearly succeeded."_

"You're kidding, right?" Clint asked no one. "This entire mess could've been avoided."

" _So I brought her here. To talk."_

 _Probably about the Soul Stone,_ a couple of people thought.

It then cut to Thanos lifting the gauntlet and the Space and Power Stones humming into life. Nebula screamed in pain as each part of her was slowly being ripped out. The people watching cringed with the likes of Natasha and Steve turning their heads away, both who had experienced their fair share of those sorts of screams.

Nebula's screams of pain continued as it showed Thanos' deadpan face, obviously not caring. Gamora started begging for Thanos to stop it.

" _Stop. Stop it." She walked over and placed her hand over the gauntlet and the humming ceased. "I swear to you on my life, I never found the Soul Stone."_

"If wasn't for her tears, she'd probably get away with it," Fury said, analytically. Natasha gave a slightly uncomfortable nod in response.

Thanos gave a slight nod to the Chitauri soldier nearby, who pressed a few commands on a computer screen. Nebula's voice rung out, announcing the access of her memory files but Rocket and Quill noticed that it was more… automated. A small holographic projection of Gamora appeared.

" _You know what he's about to do. He's finally ready and he's going for the Stones," Nebula told Gamora._

"I guess this is going to show us how she knows where the Soul Stone is," Thor said, surprising a couple of people due to his lack of speaking so far.

"Maybe even where it is," Stephen added.

" _All of them," Nebula finished._

" _He can never get them all," Gamora said._

" _He will!"_

" _He can't, Nebula. Because I found the map to the Soul Stone and I burned it to ash. I burned it."_

Thanos looked down on Gamora disapprovingly. Stephen raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his seat, curious.

The recording, now finished, flickered in the air. Thanos started talking to Gamora, disgusting the older audience members with his words and attitude.

" _You're strong. Me. You're generous. Me."_

"Why would he compare her… Gamora, to himself?" Peter asked, equally disgusted despite his question.

"Thanos believes that he's good, _right_ ," Quill said, spitting the last word. "That even though Gamora hates him and everything about herself, he believes that those things had been learnt by him."

"And it didn't quite seem that way when we first met her," Rocket added on.

Back onscreen, Thanos reiterated how and why Gamora was bad at lying. Again, he asked where the Soul Stone was while lifting the Infinity Gauntlet. Without an answer, Thanos activates the Space and Power Stones again and the audience prepared themselves. Not to say that the screams were even more painful, with each and every person knowing what would happen next.

Eventually, over the screams of Nebula, Gamora shouted out the location of the mission Stone.

" _Vormir!" Gamora yelled out._

The torture stopped immediately and the audience let out a small sigh of relief. But worry infested within them quickly. Vormir was the name of the place where the Soul Stone was? Thor wished he'd spent more time in Asgard's palace library, in hopes that it'd been once mentioned there. Stephen, Rocket and Quill and certainly never heard of it before. Though Rocket did think for a second he had, before dismissing it as mistaking it for another planet.

 _Crying, Gamora walked over to her sister and placed a hand on her face. "The Stone is on Vormir."_

Thanos smiled, telling Gamora to show him. And then it changed to a new scene.

"You know, all things considered, space is almost pretty in a way," Tony commented, noticing the surrounds of the pod.

"Yeah, well, that's until you remember about all the horrible things out there," Rocket remarked.

The camera panned down and inside the pod with Rocket and Groot discussing something that all but two had to infer. Onscreen-Thor turned away from the window, arms crossed, after providing them with the solution.

" _You'll know when we're close._ _Niðavellir's forge harnesses the blazing power of a neutron star."_

The two scientists, along with Peter and Shuri, dropped their mouths open in shock as they tried to comprehend what'd just been said.

"Holy. Shit," Peter breathed, getting across perfectly what the other three thought.

" _It's the birthplace of my hammer," Thor mentioned, sitting down with the memories of recent events._

Tony and Bruce just turned their heads and stared at Thor, utterly confused and amazed at the news, missing the next few lines of dialogue before snapping back.

Rocket put the pod into autopilot and hopped out of the pilot's seat. He stood before a computer, while Thor dejectedly stared out the pod's windows.

" _So, dead brother, huh? Yeah, that could be annoying,"_

Quill turned to Rocket in surprise. "You know, when you start talking about dead loved ones during counselling, you're supposed to _ease_ them in, not be blunt?"

" _Well, he's been dead before," Thor said._

Despite the weight of what had been shown, Thor couldn't help a small smile at the comment. And then immediately resetting to being pokerfaced.

" _But, no, this time I think it really might be true."_

" _And you said your sister and your dad?"_

" _Both dead."_

" _But still got a mum, though?"_

" _Killed by a dark elf."_

" _A best friend?"_

" _Stabbed through the heart."_

Everyone stared at Thor, curious to know his reaction but not getting an outward one. Thor appeared to be frowning, looking at the movie screen critically but in reality, everything came crashing down in no particular order which just left the god empty inside.

Onscreen-Rocket asked Thor if he was actually ready for what would soon be happening. With the latter optimistically (surprising everyone and once again reminding them that this wasn't the same Thor,) saying that he was. But despite the slight banter, Thor still managed to express his pain.

" _And what if you're wrong?" Rocket asked, in regard to how determined Thor seemed about killing Thanos._

" _Well, if I'm wrong, then… what more could I lose?"_

Something resonated within everyone. Here was Thor, the most powerful Avenger and person they knew. As much as the Earth heroes would hate to admit it, they rarely thought about Thor's life. While they all knew that there was at least someone or somethingto come back to, something to fight for, they never thought about Thor.

Onscreen-Thor got up and walked to the front of the pod.

" _I could lose a lot. Me, personally, I could lose a lot," Rocket said, bringing surprise to Viewer-Quill._

Onscreen-Rocket pulled something out of his bag and walked over to Thor. He handed the object to Thor and answered the question of what it was.

"Please tell me that's a fake eyeball or a robotic one or, well, just not an actual eyeball," Clint said, being the voice of everyone.

"Well, currently I can't tell you because it's hard to tell," Rocket answered. "Seriously, why does everything look blended together?"

Thor put the eye in, with everyone secretly hoping that the movie would—at least—cut away briefly. It did. Rocket announced that they'd arrived atNiðavellir. Everything appeared dark, which confused both the movie characters, Thor and current and future scientists.

"I thought you said Niðavellir was a neutron star?" Tony asked, frowning.

"It is. Or at least… supposed to be," Thor answered.

The movie showed the star being surrounded in massive rings made of rock and a large amount of space dust surrounding the actual star. However, Rocket continued piloting the pod further inside. They entered, with the location card telling the viewers where they were. With, once again, Tony making a sarcastic comment.

"They've only said where they were a million times."

The pod landed with Rocket making a comment on how messy everything was. Thor mentioned how long it'd been since the forge had gone out while they continued to walk around.

" _You said Thanos had a gauntlet, right?" Rocket asked._

" _Yes, why?"_

" _Did it look anything like that?"_

Cold gripped the hearts of those watching as the movie revealed another gauntlet, though looking as though it was covered in dust.

"Oh no," Peter muttered.

Thor told Rocket and Groot to go back to the pod before they were attacked. Out of nowhere, a giant figure came out from the shadows and attacked the three. Both the viewer and movie Thor quickly recognised the figure to be Eitri.

Peter frowned. "I thought dwarves were supposed to be small?"

"No. Where would you get an idea like that?" Thor said.

"I mean, it's not like it's another word to describe the word small and would, therefore, make sense," Peter mumbled.

Without being able to hear what the teenager said, Thor just shrugged and ignored him.

Thor managed to stop Eitri, which he followed but still ready to attack. Eitri broke down while saying how Asgard was supposed to protect Niðavellir. Once again adding to the mystery of how exactly Asgard was destroyed. Though everyone guessed it had something to do with Thor's deceased sister.

" _Eitri, the glove. What did you do?" Thor asked._

 _Eitri walked away and sat down dejectedly. "Three hundred dwarves lived on this ring. I thought if I did what he asked, they'd be safe. I made what he wanted; A device capable of harnessing the power of the Stones. Then he killed everyone anyway. All except me. "Your life is yours," he said. "But your hands are mine alone.""_

Natasha hung her head in shame. Clint noticed, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. The redhead looked back up at the screen and the archer glanced her way, seeing the tear on the brim of falling. It did, trailing down the former assassin's face but none followed afterwards.

They watched on as Thor encouraged Eitri to build the new weapon before the scene changed back to the place in Thanos' ship.

A Chitauri soldier was putting Nebula back together, with the viewers hoping that there would be no more torture. A part surrounding the blue cyborg's eye ejected, with Rocket and Quill leaning forward in curiosity as to what she was planning.

A smile grew on each Avengers' face as they watched Nebula incapacitate the soldier and eventually free herself. Nebula walked over to the computer, twisting various parts of herself back into their proper positions. Once at the computer, Nebula sent out a message.

" _Mantis, listen very carefully. I need you to meet me on Titan," was what Nebula managed to say before the scene changed._

"Titan… Isn't that the place where Strange, Stark and the boy are heading for?" T'Challa asked.

"Well, this should be fun," Shuri said, with everyone turning back to the screen with excitement. And maybe a little worry.

* * *

 _A/N: Excluding this author's note, this chapter is exactly 2000 words. Your random fact for the day. :)_

 _And the continuous, thank you to all those who have followed and/or favourited since the last update! Welcome!_

 _If you thought this chapter was a little lacklustre, then I'm sorry but I didn't really feel like writing most of this chapter but the next one should be fine. Out of genuine curiosity, what are your thoughts on the description/thought-based/feeling-based reactions? I would really like to know because if it's too much (or too little) then I can adapt my writing style accordingly as those sorts of descriptions will appear in my next fanfiction._


	9. Chapter 9

The scene started with showing massive swirling clouds over an orange-tinted planet. The q-ship looked like it would start spiralling out of control as it got closer to the planet.

"Why would the ship's window-computer-thing make it look like you're underwater? Seems pointless," Peter commented.

The three occupants of the ship realized that the ship would crash if they didn't manually land it. Tony practically ordered Peter to the other gimbal while he took the other. When Tony finished quickly explaining how to fly it, the movie cut too far outside the spaceship.

A massive, multi-pointed star sat broken in the orange tint of the place. Other indiscernible objects could be seen, scattered around the ground. It looked as though some sort of war had occurred. On the nuclear scale.

"Woah…" Clint, Shuri, Peter and Bruce breathed, taking in the destroyed landscape.

 _What happened to the planet?_ Wondered almost everybody else as they thought of all the possible means of destruction that could happen on Earth.

Quill felt himself go rigid at the familiarity of another destroyed planet, though it didn't shock him as much as everyone else.

Back inside the q-ship, the window-computer showed another destroyed object ( _were they buildings of some sort?_ Everyone wondered,) that was coming up close.

" _We might wanna turn. Turn! Turn! Turn!" Peter said. With that, Tony's helmet snapped on._

The viewers watched in anticipation as the q-ship came closer to another broken building. The ship ploughed through it, with half the ship being torn away. Back inside, Peter's helmet also snapped on and Doctor Strange created a forcefield around them as the ship crashed into the ground. The destroyed ship stopped over a canyon of sorts, groaning.

"Not bad for first-time space flyers," Quill remarked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure you were _much_ better," Tony bit back.

"Remember, I've been in space longer than you," Quill said, not willing to admit that Tony was actually kind of close. _By about 10%_ , he grudgingly thought.

After the title card, the movie cut back to the trio in the ship. They had been knocked to the ground from the force of the impact and were getting up. The forcefield spell was taken down.

" _You all right?" Stephen asked, stepping closer to Tony._

" _That was close," Tony said. "I owe you one."_

"Well that's new," Natasha said.

"Very," was all Clint had to say.

Onscreen, Peter came down from above, upside-down, with one hand holding the web and the other for hand gestures.

" _Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something and I eat one of you, I'm sorry," the teenager said._

The Viewer-Tony and Stephen just facepalmed while T'Challa couldn't help the brief smirk across his face.

" _I do not want another, single, pop culture reference out of your for the rest of the trip. You understand?" Tony said._

" _I'm trying to say that something is coming," Peter warned._

"Then why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Tony asked, bringing it down to being just a gut feeling.

Peter just shrugged. "I dunno."

A metal ball rolled across the ground and then all hell broke loose. The ball exploded, sending Peter, Strange and Tony flying in different directions. Through an opening in the side, Quill (who most didn't recognise because of his helmet until a couple of seconds later), Drax and presumably Mantis came charging through. Drax threw two daggers in Strange's direction, who blocked it with a shield.

"Oh, God…" Strange, Tony and Quill mumbled at the exact same time.

The Cloak of Levitation flies off and traps itself around Drax's head and he struggles to get it off. Quill flies forward, shooting and, as Iron Man, Tony goes after him.

Almost out of the blue, Rocket says something. "Does anyone find it weird how we're watching ourselves do stuff like this?"

"Could've said that before," Clint mumbled so quietly it could barely be heard. Then, more loudly: "Yeah, a little."

Tony shot Quill and threw him to the ground. Quill quickly stood up and activated some sort of magnet that pulled Tony to some of the machinery. It cut to Peter, who must've regained consciousness and quickly started crawling away from Mantis. He webbed the empath up before getting kicked over by Quill. Peter tries to fight Quill, with the spider-legs open, but a cable of sort traps him. Shortly after, Tony frees himself and goes over to Drax who is still struggling with the Cloak of Levitation.

"Just how loyal _is_ that thing?" Shuri asked.

It takes Stephen a second to answer. "It would be difficult to explain in words, shall we say."

Tony holds a blaster to Drax and Quill is holding Peter with his gun raised. A couple raised their eyebrow at the sight of Peter holding Peter, with the viewer Peters not being able to hold in a snort of laughter.

" _Everybody stay where you are. Chill the eff out," Quill announced. He takes a moment to take away his mask. "I'm gonna ask you this one time. Where is Gamora?"_

 _Tony's own helmet retracted. "Yeah, I'll do you better. Who's Gamora?"_

" _I'll do you one better. Why is Gamora?" Drax asked with all seriousness._

Peter and Shuri immediately doubled over, almost silently laughing while Tony and T'Challa (respectively) just glared at them. Rocket and Quill just smacked their heads.

The two teenagers' laughter stopped after a couple of seconds with Shuri muttering _"But no one asked; How is Gamora"_. After that, she shut up and looked around cautiously, hoping that no one had heard her. T'Challa had, and a sharp jab was sent her way.

" _Tell me where the girl is or I swear to you I'm gonna French fry this little freak," Quill threatens._

" _Let's do it. You shoot my guy and I'll blast him. Let's go!" Tony challengers, a weapon forming with electricity buzzing through._

Drax says he'd be able to take it and this is when Viewer-Tony takes the opportunity to ask Quill something.

"Would you actually shoot though?"

"Only if you wanted to kill one of us. Otherwise, no."

Still angered, Onscreen-Quill presses his gun into Peter's head and the initial confusion is almost cleared after Strange picks up on Quill's mention of Thanos. Tony asks if Quill is from Earth (with the viewer almost making a comment but deciding not to,) and Peter finally brings the discussion back to the original question asked by Doctor Strange.

" _So you're not with Thanos?"_

 _Quill displayed visual confusion. "With Thanos? No, I'm here to kill Thanos. He took my girl—Wait, who are you?"_

 _Peter's helmet snapped down. "We're the Avengers, man."_

"Except for the wizard," Tony said, loudly.

"For the last time, I am not a wizard!"

Tony just smirked happily.

" _You're the ones Thor told us about," Mantis gets out._

" _You know Thor?" Tony asks._

" _Yeah. Tall guy, not the good-looking, needed saving."_ _Quill said._

A few people noticed Peter's movie counterpart pulling a face at the statement and some others couldn't help but… appreciate (in a certain sense) Quill's ongoing jealousy.

" _Where is he now?" Strange asked._

Not expecting a sudden scene change, some pulled back slightly as the movie cut back to Niðavellir. Eitri, Thor, Rocket and Groot were walking towards a machine that placed a giant stone on a platform.

"Wait, that's the weapon?" Rocket said, screwing up his face slightly.

" _This is the plan? We're gonna hit him with a brick?" Rocket asked._

"Over the head or like a Frisbee?" Peter asked, earning a snort of laughter from across the row.

" _It's a mould. A king's weapon. Meant to be the greatest in Asgard. In theory, it could even summon the Bifrost," Eitri explained._

Thor raised a sceptical eyebrow. But, then again, you didn't always need the Bifrost Bridge to use it.

" _Did it have a name?" Thor asked._

 _After a pause, Eitri answered. "Stormbreaker."_

Clint gave a low whistle at the name. A sense of… _power_ warmed up within everyone present but only for a split second.

" _That's a bit much," Rocket said._

"Well, like my future-self said before, it better be some hammer," Rocket commented.

" _So how do we make it?" Thor asked._

" _You'll have to restart the forge. Awaken the heart of a dying star," Eitri said._

"The star is dead. There's no way you can scientifically do—" Tony was then cut off by Thor's next line of dialogue.

" _Rabbit, fire up the pod."_

The movie then cut back to Titan with Quill asking, somewhat rhetorically, what had happened to the planet. According to a yellow-lighted device, Quill said that the planet was eight degrees off its axis and that the gravitational pull was all over the place.

 _Yeah… Probably some sort of nuclear war,_ Fury thought.

" _Yeah, we got one advantage. He's coming to us…" Tony said, calling back to earlier in the movie. "We'll use it. All right, I have a plan. Or at least, the beginnings of one."_

"Attack?" Steve asked, turning to face Tony with an eyebrow raised.

The billionaire just shrugged his shoulders. "Probably. Most likely."

Onscreen, everyone but Doctor Strange came closer. The doctor's lack of appearance went unnoticed by the viewers for a few seconds with some wondering if whoever made this had somehow forgotten about him.

Tony explained his plan and as he got to the end, Drax yawned. With the way the camera was placed, the viewers could clearly see Strange.

"Uh, Doc, what're you doing?" Tony asked after a beat of silence.

Strange leaned forward, taking in his movie counterpart's position and the green rings around his lower arm. "Looking into the future or past. Most likely one of those two options." He then sat back down again.

Everyone just stared at him, surprise not showing but disbelief across each face.

"You… can do that?" Clint asked.

"Do you all somehow forget that I have the _Time Stone_ ," Stephen said, putting emphasis on the last two words.

They all turned back to the movie screen and continued watching.

Onscreen-Tony asked why Drax was yawning, with the explanation being that he'd stopped listening after Tony had said "We need a plan". Viewer-Quill couldn't help but smack his forehead, vowing to teach Drax the importance of needing to know a plan before battle. Especially one against a murderer and torturer.

Movie-Quill explains that using a plan is pointless with Drax and Mantis (the Earth heroes figured that the only one of them that ever used or had a plan was Quill,) with Mantis saying that they _"Kick names, take ass"_. Rocket did his best to hold in his laughter at the sight of Quill, once again, failing at something.

"You look like you're done with life," Peter commented, referring to his mentor's defeated-looking face.

"At that point in my life, I probably am," Tony said.

Onscreen-Tony told everyone to gather round and tried to talk to them. Before he was interrupted by Quill after saying something about a plucky attitude.

" _Dude, don't call us plucky. We don't know what it means. All right, we're optimistic, yes. I like your plan—"_

"Thank you," Tony said.

"— _Except it sucks,"_

"Are you kidding me!"

" _, so let me do the plan and that way it might be really good."_

"I spent how long trying to work out what was wrong and _this_ is the thanks I get?" Tony muttered.

" _Tell him about the dance-off to save the universe,"_

While Quill's movie counterpart tried to deny the fact of a dance-off, the Avengers and non-Avengers turned to face Rocket and Quill.

"Dance-off?" Clint asked.

"To save the universe?" Fury pressed.

"It's… complicated…" Quill trailed off, saving himself from explaining the entire thing by pressing play to resume the movie.

The movie counterparts argued a little with the spies noticing that Mantis seemed to move forward. Quill explained that he was half human which confused everyone there ("I thought you said you were from Earth?" was most of the questions raised). Mantis then interrupted them.

" _Excuse me… But does your friend often do that?" She asked, looking distressed._

They all turned to face Mantis, who'd been watching Strange. The viewers were confused as it showed Stephen's head moving around sporadically, getting faster and faster.

"Uh… What's going on?" Peter asked, a little nervous.

Stephen just watched himself closely, trying to work out which of the hundreds of possibilities was happening. It could be any one of them and none of them seemed to fit. Except a few.

Eventually, Strange "woke up" from whatever happened and took a couple of seconds to get his breath back.

" _Hey, what was that?" Peter asked._

" _I went forward in time to view alternate futures," Strange explains, out of breath._

The viewers were suddenly on the edge of their seats, no one daring to make any sort of sound in case they missed something.

 _Strange continued. "To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict."_

" _How many did you see?" Quill asked._

" _Fourteen million, six hundred and five."_

Still, no one made a sound or comment.

" _How many did we win?" Tony asked._

Thoughts raced through each viewer as they prayed and hoped that there would be a significant amount in their favour. That at least if they messed up part of one, there would be another outcome they could quickly try to complete.

 _A couple of seconds went past before Strange answered. "One."_

"Oh fuck," Clint couldn't help but say.

* * *

 _A/N: I hate the first half of this chapter and like the other... But I can't wait for the next one (it's the scene I've been waiting to write ever since I started the last version and it's finally here!)._

 _Also, thanks for all the reviews, follows and/or favourites._

 _Guest review responses:_

 _(1) Guest: It's coming!_

 _(2) Guest: Well considering this is from a Guest, on chapter 1, I'm going to assume you just read that chapter and none of the others and are therefore not reading this but in case you are... Why don't you tell that to all those who have written an OC into the movie events? It's kind of the same once you really think about it..._

 _Shiranai Atsune: And I can't wait!_

 _Constellation: Yeah, I completely understand. To be honest, I didn't know how to end the last chapter and what ended up being written was based off something similar I had in mind._


	10. Chapter 10

"Oh, we are so very, very screwed," Peter mumbled as the next scene started.

The movie showed the outside of Vormir before cutting to inside the planet. A breath of awe came from the Earth-based heroes at the site of it, having never seen anything like it before. Despite knowing what it would entail, they took a second to appreciate it.

A portal opened and closed, with Thanos and Gamora walking across what looked like black sand dunes. Everyone was on the edge of their seat, heartrates increasing slowly as they desperately prayed that this would be a trick on Gamora's part. But deep down, they all knew that it wasn't going to be a trick. Especially when Thanos told Gamora that _"The Stone had better be up there. For your sister's sake"_.

The duo climbed the mountain that had featured prominently in other shots. They rounded a rocky corner very close to the top when a voice from nowhere spoke out.

" _Welcome, Thanos, son of Alars," the ghostly voice said._

"Quill, Rocket, there wouldn't happen to be ghosts or something like that in space, right?" Peter asked.

The… The thing was floating and a torn, old cloak fluttered wildly in the wind.

"Not that we know of," Rocket answered.

Although slightly frightened, everyone was still very much on the edge of their seats. Nobody, not even the spies that were right next to him, noticed Steve's muscles clench as the voice pierced through his memories.

" _Gamora, daughter of Thanos," it said again._

Rocket and Quill let out a small growl.

" _You know us?" Thanos asked._

" _It is my curse to know all who journey here."_

Ignoring that, Thanos asked where the Soul Stone was.

" _You should know, it extracts a terrible price."_

" _I am prepared."_

The figure floated down, the fluttering of his cloak stopping and he stepped forward. _"We all think that at first."_ The red face revealed though the shadows obscuring parts of it.

Peter frowned, confused. "What's Darth Maul doing here?"

But no one had time to respond as Steve suddenly jumped up from his seat, anger in every word. "What. The. Hell!? What's _he_ doing here?!"

They all looked at the soldier confused.

"Ah, how would you know a creepy space man?" Tony asked.

"That," Steve pointed to Red Skull. ", is Red Skull."

Everyone but Rocket and Thor (who, naturally, didn't understand) turned back to the screen in shock. They'd all grown up learning about Captain America (whether good or bad) with the name "Red Skull", very rarely, coming up. The Avengers had heard the occasional mumble from Steve but never really took much notice of it.

"And I'll ask again: How is he—Oh."

"What is it, Steve?" Natasha asked after a moment of silence.

Steve sat back down in his chair, a feeling of disappointment, bitterness and anger all rolled into one, weighing him down. "On the plane that I flew into the ocean, Red Skull attempted to use the Tesseract. Something happened—I don't know what—but it caused a portal to open up and he was sucked through. Wherever he went, I didn't know, thinking he was dead but back then, I had more pressing things to do."

They all nodded, with Steve resuming the movie. Though he did his best not to show it, Steve couldn't help the emptiness inside him show. All that; Fighting Hydra, stopping the plane, losing everything and everyone he knew loved to time only to find out that it was all for nothing. All that to find out Red Skull was still alive and about to doom the entire universe by giving an equally terrible being the Soul Stone.

Since no one noticed, or rather, chose to ignore, Steve (they didn't know what to say or do), they watched on.

Two tall stone blocks were before the three. The wind seemed to pick up and more clouds slowly starting to gather.

" _How is it you know this place so well?" Thanos asked._

" _A lifetime ago, I too, sought the Stones. I even held one in my hand," Red Skull explained. "But it cast me out, banished me here. Guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess."_

Still mad, Steve didn't ignore any of the dialogue. Though they would never cross paths again, though he'll never forgive him, Steve couldn't but give a little sorrow to the deformed human. Though that would be all Red Skull would ever get from him.

Through the stone blocks, the three came to the edge of the cliff.

" _What you seek lies in front of you," Red Skull informs Thanos. "As does what you fear."_

"What… What could Thanos possibly fear?" Quill muttered. "And there's nothing there either…"

Gamora looked over the edge and asked what it was, what he meant. Red Skull answered with it being the price.

" _Soul holds a special place among the Infinity Stones. You might say it has a certain… wisdom."_

" _Tell me what it needs," Thanos said, impatience being hinted in his voice._

A thought suddenly occurred in Fury's mind. He masked the realization with continuing an impassive face. As Red Skull told Thanos what it needed, Natasha and Clint heard a soft curse come from Fury and they looked at him, before working out what he was thinking.

" _To ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power, the Stone demands a sacrifice."_

" _Of what?"_

"Gamora," the three spies whispered in unison at the same time as the movie.

" _In order to take the Stone, you must lose that which you love." Thanos turned to Red Skull. "A soul… for a soul."_

Thanos turned back to the cliff. Meanwhile, everyone's hearts stopped. They knew what would happen. Nothing could deny the horror that spiked within each one as every indication—dialogue, set-up and sudden lack of music—gave it away. And remorse filled the Earth-based heroes as Gamora started laughing and shaking her head.

" _All my life, I dreamed of a day, a moment," it briefly cut to Thanos's empty face. ", when you got what you deserved. And I was always so disappointed." Back to Gamora walking around. "But now, you kill and torture and you call it mercy. The universe has judged you. You asked it for a prize and it told you no. You failed."_

No one bothered to say anything. The silence amongst the viewers was deafening and if you walked in, you wouldn't be immediately aware that there were people in the theatre.

" _And do you wanna know why?" Gamora's voice called out. "Because you love nothing. No one."_

" _No…" Thanos turned around after a couple of seconds._

" _Really? Tears?"_

And then Red Skull confirmed the dreaded feeling everyone had like he was dragging them across mud. _"They're not for him."_

Gamora turned to the former leader of Hydra, her slight joyous face turning into one of horror. After a moment, Thanos walked forward while Gamora backtracked, keeping an even distance from the killer.

" _No. This isn't love."_

 _At least she knows._ Everyone thought, not daring to say it out loud.

" _I ignored my destiny once. I cannot do that again," Thanos said. "Even for you."_

Quickly, with only a moments hesitation, Gamora grabbed the double-bladed knife from Thanos's side, opened it and went to stab herself. But the sound of it dissolving reached the viewers before they could feel relieved. Bubbles rose from Gamora's shaky open hands like some sort of sick joke. She looked up, crying, knowing that these were her last moments.

" _I'm sorry little one," Thanos said, anguish displayed across his face._

Music drowned out the sounds but Gamora's screams pierced through. Peter and Shuri looked away, facing their respective family. They had witnessed the deaths of loved ones (though Shuri was lucky in that T'Challa hadn't actually died), while everyone turned away from the screen. Even though all but two had only "meet" Gamora within the movie, they still felt as though they knew her, that she would be a… _friend_.

Rocket and Quill, try as they might, could not look away. They watched as she struggled, helplessly fighting off the titan until finally, Thanos threw her off the cliff's edge. As she fell, they turned away, praying that even if she were to die, that Gamora was right and that her sacrifice would not be enough for the Soul Stone to be granted to Thanos.

No one noticed her reaching out, nor the drowned out scream of "dad". A couple did look back to the screen and noticed the clouds shimmering with light as they pooled together before creating a black, silent screen.

Feeling that it was over, they all looked back just as it showed Thanos getting out of water. A little confused at first before horror and dread came from everyone as Thanos looked across from the Gauntlet to his empty hand, where an orange glow emitted. Thanos held it up and the Soul Stone shined bright.

 _It's being used._ Stephen unconsciously noticed as he was used to the Time Stone always glowing when being used and the same happening to the other Stones.

A moment went by with the viewers being almost shocked out as the scene changed.

* * *

 _A/N: I love this chapter. I've been looking forward to it for ages and I hope I delivered! In all honesty, I'd watched Infinity War many times before writing this story and I kind of became desensitised from this scene but now I feel really... I don't know, upset(?) at this scene, so I tried to put that as the reactions to Gamora's death.  
_ _Also, in case you're wondering why Peter wondered Red Skull was Darth Maul, that was pretty much my first thought when he appeared when I first watched the movie._

 _Guest review responses:_

 _(1) Guest: So have I! Again, I really hope this chapter gave the reactions we've all been waiting for._

 _(2) Guest: Understandable as it is a great moment for Thanos' character (though I personally think his moment explaining what happened on Titan and stuff is his)._

 _Shiranai Atsune: To be honest, I'm not really good at the fight scenes with reactions but yeah, I can't wait to write the ending._

 _SpideyGal: Thank you and here you go!_

 _And finally, again, thank you to all those who've followed, favourited and/or reviewed._


	11. Chapter 11

A quinjet was seen flying over the low clouds in Wakanda. Steve's movie counterpart told Sam the coordinates and bypass code to enter the city. They do so safely and as they land at the palace, the Dora Milaje and T'Challa are walking out to them.

" _When you said we were going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world," Okoye said. ", this is not what I imagined."_

" _And what did you imagine?" T'Challa asked._

" _The Olympics. Maybe even a Starbucks."_

Shuri turned to T'Challa, who moved his head to look at her.

"Why _haven't_ you put in an Olympics bid yet? Or gotten in touch with Starbucks?"

"First, the cities for the next couple of Olympics have already been chosen. Second, Starbucks isn't an urgent need."

Shuri just rolled her eyes at the last part before concentrating back on the movie.

The quinjet landed and the occupants walked out. Steve and Natasha, looking a little worn out but still maintaining an air of professionalism, walked forward first. Unfamiliar with what'd happened in the past few Earth years, Bruce asked Rhodey if it would be appropriate to bow.

Without any prompting, T'Challa answered the question. "It's a tradition that I don't particularly like, so no."

A ripple of soft laughter escaped with what Rhodey answered with and Bruce following through. Viewer-Bruce just put a hand on his head.

"I'll try to remember that if it ever comes up once we get out of here."

" _So how big of an assault should we expect?" T'Challa asked._

 _Bruce stepped forward. "Uh, sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault."_

A couple of the original Avengers and Fury nodded thoughtfully.

"The Attack on New York was only a warm-up," Fury said.

"A very light one at that," Clint added, vague and blurry memories of his mind control visions passing by.

" _You will have my King's Guard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje and," T'Challa gestured over to Bucky who walked over with his new arm_

" _And a semi-stable, hundred-year-old man."_

Natasha glanced over to Steve, who had an impassive mask on. But the light from the screen showed his eyes flickering slightly as he watched the movie. But even Natasha couldn't quite work out what he was thinking or feeling.

Onscreen-Steve greeted Bucky, asking him how he was feeling. And for the end of the world, Bucky answered, not bad. The next part showed a spire-esque structure built into the side of a forested mountain with waterfalls on either side. A cut to inside, Vision was on a table with Shuri scanning him. The viewer perked up, not quite expecting to appear in the movie.

Scan completed, a schematic of the Mind Stone came up, with Shuri looking at it. Tony, Bruce and Shuri all paused the movie at the exact same time and got out of their chairs, leaning forward. Nobody said anything for a minute while they tried to interpret the slightly blurred image.

"So?" Clint asked, getting a little impatient.

The three scientists went back down to their seats, looking slightly defeated.

"The image is too blurry and there's no way we could record it to get a better look," Bruce answered.

Shuri pressed play and the movie continued.

" _Woah," Bruce uttered._

 _Shuri looked at the hologram, mostly curious with a hint of fascination. "The structure is polymorphic."_

"Ok then… How's that supposed to help us?" Tony asked no one.

" _Right. We had to attach each neuron non-sequentially," Bruce explained._

"Uh… still doesn't answer my question but at least we have an idea of how to create Vision I guess…"

" _Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"_

There was silence for a split second as everyone naturally absorbed the information before Clint's brain stopped working.

"Excuse me, but what did you just say?" He asked.

"That every synapse would work at the same time," Tony said.

"But what does that mean?"

"The junctions in two nerve cells would pass impulse diffusion of a neurotransmitter at once," Bruce elaborated.

This time, it wasn't only Clint who was confused.

"Um, English please?" Steve asked as politely as he could.

"Impembelelo idlulela kwi-junction phakathi kweeseli ezimbini zesigulane, isasaza ulwazi kodwa zonke ngexesha elinye."

Clint and Steve just sighed, resuming the movie and trying not to overthink what both the movie-Shuri and scientists had just said.

Back to the movie, Wanda, who didn't know nor really care about the technical terms, asked if Shuri would be able to remove the Stone. She said yes but there was a catch.

"… _there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures."_

An utterance of cursing came from some people at the huge number and risk, no one expecting it. Shuri mentioned how it would take time, time which everyone watching clearly knew she wouldn't have. But what would get in the way was still up in the air. But a small glimmer of hope sat in them, that the Mind Stone would be extracted and destroyed.

" _How long?" Steve asked._

" _As long as you could give me."_

Okoye's kimoyo beads started beeping, with her lifting her wrist up and activating the hologram. Radar circles appeared on the holographic globe, just above the edge of Africa.

"You'd better be fast," Rocket said, volume bordering a mutter and talking normally.

A brief cut to space and everyone's blood ran cold as spear-headed shaped ships dropped from a q-ship and into Earth. Bucky, Sam and Rhodey—who was in his War Machine armour—were still standing on the landing platform, no doubt being lookouts. They looked up to see a ship coming down, and fast.

"If what you say about Wakanda being extremely strong is true, you better have really good protection against alien ships," Tony said, almost as if he were warning them.

The fear got washed away as the ship crashed and burned as it collided with the force-field. T'Challa and Shuri breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that at least some time had been bought as it had been made apparent that alien technology could not easily get through. Though a lot of damage had been done to the force-field…

Bucky mentioned how much he loved Wakanda but Rhodey dissipated any small amount of celebration as he announced that more ships were incoming, but this time, safely away from the force-field.

Destructive waves of water, dirt and trees burst from the ground as the ships landed roughly on the surface. They sent spikes of fear through the viewers, them hoping the upcoming damage would not be severe. Unbeknownst to them, they didn't notice their hopes of winning slowly dwindle as they watched the debris fly forward and crash into the barrier.

The people in the workshop watched the ships as they landed, while Vision sat up.

" _It's too late. We need to destroy the Stone now," he said._

" _Vision get your ass back on the table," Natasha ordered._

Tony couldn't help the small snort but pretended not to notice the spy's glare.

Onscreen-T'Challa announced that they would hold the army off and Steve reminded Wanda about blowing the Stone up. As T'Challa walked away, he started ordering everyone into various jobs.

" _Evacuate the city. Engage all defences. And," he pointed to Steve who looked back at him. ", get this man a shield."_

The scene changed to Niðavellir as a surge of confidence flared through the viewers before quickly going away.

* * *

 _A/N: My favourite part of this chapter is when they're talking about the synapses. Hopefully it's correct and if it isn't, please let me know :)_

 _Also, I know yesterday is my normal upload day, but I really didn't feel like writing because I thought the chapter would take to long, but it didn't so... yeah. Anyway, next Monday/Tuesday (depending on where you live), there won't be a new chapter, which I'm changing to be the weekend because school is starting for me. I mean, it'd depend on how much is in the scene but just expect new chapters to be on the weekend (or Friday, again, depending on where you live)._

 _Guess review responses:_

 _(1) Guest: Wow. That must've taken a long time to... copy, paste and change slightly. Also, to any who is going to give me copyright posts as a guest, I'm sorry, but from now on, I'll ignore them. You won't be getting a response from me unless I feel as though I should give you one. Because if you really did care, you wouldn't be afraid to use your account. But, if anyone does give me another, then please, answer the question I gave to the last person on chapter 9. And don't mention AO3 or Tumblr because I don't have an account for either and don't mention Wattpad because my account on there is for all my non-fanfiction related stuff. (Let's see how many people read this...)_

 _(2) Guest: Glad you like it and are looking forward to new chapters._

 _(3) Guest: Thanks but what do you mean by eggs and toast?_

 _Caitlin: Thank you and here you are :)_

 _Shiranai Atsune: Heh, thanks for the ongoing support! And yep, when you watch Gamora's death, Gamora's mouth forms an "a" shape as in "dad". And I do think one or two people did see the last parts from your comment, but I couldn't really think of what to put._

 _Translation:_

 _Impembelelo idlulela kwi-junction phakathi kweeseli ezimbini zesigulane, isasaza ulwazi kodwa zonke ngexesha elinye. -_ _The impulses pass through a junction between two nerve cells, spreading out information but all at the same time._


	12. Chapter 12

_"I don't think you get the scientifics here," Rocket said, as the pod went around the inside of Niðavellir's rings. "These rings are gigantic. You wanna get them moving, you're gonna need something a lot bigger to yank 'em loose."_

"He's not wrong," Tony said, briefly remembering what happened to the helicarrier about two years ago.

Steve nodded in silent agreement.

Thor said to leave it to him as he attached the rope to the ring he was standing on. Rocket started to argue with Thor but was quickly cut off as Thor started swinging the rope around, which was connected to the pod.

"That is… an interesting way of doing it…" Tony remarked.

Thor stopped, commanding Rocket to fire the engines. The racoon did it, as soon as the pod stopped spinning. The three scientists (plus the one in training) leaned forward ever so slightly, curious as to what exactly the plan was.

Digging his feet into the ring, causing a ditch and large pileup of metal, Thor pulled the rope back. The ice started cracking. The scientists leaned back into their seats, silent "oohs" coming from them. Thor ordered Rocket to increase the pod's power. Soon, the ice couldn't take the pressure anymore and started flaking off the rings, allowing all the rings to move into their rightful positions.

"Wow, that actually worked," Clint said, a little surprised.

"I think you've spoken too soon," Strange said, a little sceptical at how easy it seemed.

"Killjoy," Clint mumbled.

The audience looked in awe at just how _majestic_ the star looked.

 _"That's Niðavellir," Thor said, pointing at the star, slightly out of breath._

A beam of light shone through the mechanics and onto the mould. _Finally,_ something would go right and—

"That… That can't be good, right?" Peter asked.

A piece of metal detached itself from the rest of the machinery and burnt up in the beam. Viewer-Thor shook his head as the beam ceased to exist.

 _Eitri explained what happened. "The mechanism is crippled."_

 _"What?" Thor asked._

 _"With the iris closed, I can't heat the metal," he explained further._

 _"How long will it take to heat it?"_

"Oh. Don't tell me you're going to do what I think you're going to do," Natasha said.

"I think… that it is going to happen," Thor nodded in agreement.

 _"A few minutes, maybe more. Why?"_

Everyone stayed silent as they all realised what movie-Thor was going to do. Dangerous, but necessary.

 _He can survive space,_ Clint thought. _Surely he could stand a blast from a star._

 _"I'm going to hold it open," Thor announced._

"That's suicide!" Practically everyone shouted at the same time as the movie.

"But if the axe is indeed powerful, it would be equally suicidal to fight Thanos without it," Strange explained.

Silence settled on everyone as they processed the wizard's words. The longer they thought about it, the more they came to realise that facing Thanos without a powerful weapon was a terrible idea; Even worse than being a placeholder for the broken mechanism.

Thor leapt from the pod and into the star. The scene then changed so suddenly and without any warning that the people present had to stop concentrating for a second. Blinking a couple of times, they turned back to the movie.

The Wakandan soldiers, Falcon and War Machine were all flying out to the ships.

"They must being setting up something big," Peter said. "With a sudden change like that."

Shuri's eyes lit up. "Maybe Thor will join in the upcoming battle."

"Wouldn't it make more sense for him to go to Titan though?" Tony asked.

Thor just shrugged. "I guess we'll have to wait and see."

Onscreen-Natasha asked Bruce how he was doing. Bruce's face showed up, behind a screen that looked suspiciously like the Iron Man HUD screen. The Hulkbuster armour ran ahead of the transport pods.

"Ah, Tony, Bruce?" Steve started. "What is that?"

"Veronica," Bruce answered.

"Hulkbuster," Tony answered at the same time.

Clint pulled a face. "What's it supposed to do?"

It took a second for either to answer.

"A safeguard against the Hulk," Bruce explained and didn't elaborate any further. No one pressed any more questions.

Unexperienced with the armour, Bruce tripped over a stray rock, but quickly picked himself up. Falcon and War Machine flew right up to the barrier, with Rhodey announcing that two heat signatures were breaking through the treeline.

An angry-sounding Cull Obsidian grunted and a pissed-off Proxima Midnight walked out. The blood ran cold in each viewer and dread filled both T'Challa and Shuri as they watched the soldiers jump off the pods. But these people had trained their entire lives for this sort of thing.

M'Baku led the Jabari in a war chant while T'Challa, Steve, Natasha, Bucky and Bruce got into position. T'Challa shook M'Baku's hand, thanking him for coming. He something back in Xhosa, which only the Wakandans understood.

Proxima Midnight walked up to the barrier and ran her sword along it, causing it to spark but not break. Natasha, Steve and T'Challa walked up to the two aliens.

 _"Where's your other friend?" Natasha asked._

 _"You will pay for his life with yours," Midnight answered._

 _That can't be good,_ Fury thought to himself. _Maybe he's…_

But Proxima kept talking, cutting Fury's train of thought.

 _"Thanos will have that Stone."_

 _"That's not gonna happen," Steve said, determination in every word._

 _"You are in Wakanda now," T'Challa said. "Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood."_

 _"We have blood to spare."_

Lifting her sword up, Proxima Midnight gave some sort of signal to the ships behind her. The ships grew taller and the uncertainty in each viewer grew. Especially when the Outriders were released from the ships.

"What are those?" Peter gulped.

"No idea but they're probably very nasty," Rocket answered.

The Outriders ran forward, slamming into the forcefield. The audience thought they would stop, but no. Without any concern, the Outriders pushed forward, trying to get through the barrier but their arms and legs got maimed off and some with their bodies being cut in half. The people watching just looked at the screen in horror.

"That's…" But Steve couldn't find the right words to describe what they were all seeing. All feeling.

Despite the corpses, Proxima Midnight just stared forward, a sadistic grin on her face. Fear grew in the viewers as they watched as a couple of Outriders managed it through the barrier.

"Shit," Tony swore under his breath. "She's not even concerned."

"Maybe she's trying to prove something," Fury said, getting an understanding of the Black Order member's goal.

The Wakandan soldiers crossed their cloaks over, forming a shield and the row of people behind them brought up vibranium spears. Energy blasts were shot out of them. Bucky and Banner helped out while Falcon and War Machine took to the air to help. But despite their best efforts and an impressive set of explosions from Rhodey, more Outriders made it through.

 _"Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us," Bruce noted, noticing the Outriders starting to circle around the barrier. ", there's nothing between them and Vision."_

 _"Then we better keep 'em in front of us," Steve said._

 _"How do we do that?" Okoye asked._

T'Challa frowned a little and spoke at the same time as his movie-counterpart, though no one heard him. "By opening the barrier."

Onscreen-T'Challa lifted a finger to his ear and spoke into it. He informed that on his signal, to open a certain section of the barrier. The person on the other side asked for confirmation, disbelief clear.

 _"This will be the end of Wakanda," M'Baku said._

 _"Then it will be the noblest ending in history," Okoye said, ready to fight to the death._

They watched, uncertain, as Steve ejected his shields from their gauntlets. Shouting a command, the armies retracted their shields. T'Challa stepped out from within, shouting a proud and determined,

 _"Wakanda forever!"_

* * *

 _A/N: Honestly, not my best chapter. Maybe because this one (and the last one) could be cut out and nothing would really be missed. *Reads that one guest review* Wow, this may take a while. I'll leave that one for last._

 _Guest review responses:_

 _(1 and 2) Guest: Thank you! Glad you like it._

 _(3) Guest: Ah, ok._

 _Shiranai Atsune: Thank you._

 _(4) Guest: Just going to put this here: If you thought that I would get mad at seeing that you posted this with the "Guest" name and stuff, then you're wrong. Also, I would rather not this get out of proportion, so if any of the following sounds rude and/or ignorant, then sorry, but like you said, getting tone over the internet and in words is difficult._

 _a) I have never said I don't like Guest accounts or people who aren't signed in. If I did, I wouldn't bother doing these responses. And about the copyright-guest-people, what I should have said, is that after this particular piece, I'm not going to continue with reaction stories. This would be the only one. Why am I continuing it? Because I hate having incomplete works.  
_

 _b) Why does this sound more like a complaint about fanfiction in general? I can think of at least three people (two from Wattpad) who have gained their fame from writing fanfiction. The two from Wattpad - One is getting a movie based on their fanfiction and another just inserted OCs into the canon stories. About that latter one–Would you say they were piggybacking off those series? And about my level of creativity_ _–Yes, your probably right. For fanfiction, I probably am very uncreative. Just writing stories that we've all seen many times. How it's executed is what makes each of these different._

 _c) Overall, I like your criticism. I like criticism_ _–whether it makes me a better writer or is about my behaviour. The only problem with this particular part is that with criticism like this, each point made has at least something to back it up. Please give me the exact words and place where I said I don't want criticism. If you're going to quote my last chapter, then read the last part of point a._

 _d) If I understand this point correctly, you're asking me to boost my review count? Or do you mean to put the review in this response part and then answer it? Seems a little unnecessary, considering most people would be able to see the response and know "Oh, that's the author's response to me. Cool." And I read the part of the rules that you mention_ _–From my understanding of them, you can't create separate chapters dedicated to something not connected to the story. Each chapter I write is just that, an addition to the story. The guest responses at the end are just the easiest way for me to communicate._

 _e) I'll copy what I put at the end of point a, because it sums up my response to this part:_ _After this particular piece, I'm not going to continue with reaction stories. This would be the only one. Why am I continuing it? Because I hate having incomplete works. And yes, there have been many times I have wanted to lash out over the internet, but I haven't. Last chapter was the first time I have done so. Finally, I have never asked or begged for respect. If people give that to me, then cool, that's nice. But they don't have to. So I don't ask for it._

 _Again, I'm sorry if any of the above sounded rude and/or ignorant. One last thing to wrap this up: The reason you created your response is because I said that I would no longer respond to copyright-guest-people, right? About that: Th_ _ey would go under the 1% of people I don't respond to_ _–people I don't know what to respond to with because it's the same thing and I don't really like repeating myself._


	13. Chapter 13

The Wakandan army charged forward and as they got closer, T'Challa ordered the barrier to be opened. A section opened up and the Outriders started pouring through.

Shuri couldn't help but lift an eyebrow as onscreen, Steve caught up to T'Challa. No one else made any comment.

There wasn't any time between each cut of the fighting. It paused on T'Challa just long enough for him to ask Shuri how much longer it would take to extract the Mind Stone.

 _"I've barely begun brother."_

 _"You might want to pick up the pace," T'Challa managed to say just before he started fighting again._

Instead of making a sarcastic response, Shuri couldn't help the slight waver in her voice. "When we get back, I'll create a program to help with this."

"Better yet, we'll prevent it from happening at all," Steve said, determined.

The movie cut to Thor standing in the mechanism at Niðavellir. He asked the Allfathers for strength before Eitri brought up the reality that was about to happen.

 _"You're about to take the full force of a star. It'll kill you."_

"I mean, I know you can survive in space but the giant dwarf is right. This is a _star_ we're talking about. Once this one collapses it's probably going to become a black hole," Tony argued.

"I think," Thor started. ", that you humans could benefit greatly from going beyond your own planet."

The Earth-based heroes looked at Thor, then to Rocket and Quill, with an eyebrow raised, but none of them elaborated. Instead, a ghost of a smile was on their faces before turning back and concentrating on the movie.

Onscreen-Thor gripped the machinery and pulled the arms with all his strength. The casing-like stuff covering the star opened up and the stream of energy engulfed the Asgardian. The beatings of the hearts of the audience watching grew as the beam got stronger. Their breaths hitched up as they saw Thor slowing starting to lose his grip on the machinery. Eitri started cranking the mould out and that's when Thor let go of the machinery.

Everyone froze in shell-shocked silence.

They watched as the beam ceased and Rocket manoeuvring the pod to inside the rings where Thor landed.

"Holy shit," Tony whispered.

 _Rocket ran from the pod and over to Thor. "Thor! Say something. Come on. Thor, you ok?"_

But the people watching, though still in absolute shock, refused to believe that Thor was actually dead.

Eitri threw the mould onto the ground and started breaking it apart.

 _"I think he's dying," Rocket said._

 _"He needs the axe!"_

"Thor, you better not die on us now," Clint said, with no hint of joking in his voice.

As Eitri asked out for the handle, it briefly cut to Groot who'd looked up from his game. Nobody except for Rocket realized what it meant.

Eitri called for Groot to help him find the handle. As Groot's worried face turned slightly, Quill's eyes widened.

"Wait. Is he…?"

"Probably," Rocket nodded.

"Is he what?" Natasha asked, a little impatient.

Quill nodded towards the screen. "Watch."

Natasha turned back just in time to see Groot grow his fingers and latch onto the burning metal blades and bring them together. He lifted it up to detach his arm to create the handle.

Again, the people watching looked in shocked silence. But this time without any worry.

"Erm, what?" Tony frowned as the axe lifted slightly and crackles of lightning extended from it and also Thor's hand.

Thor just raised a curious eyebrow.

Back in Wakanda, the battle was still going on fiercely. In the Hulkbuster, Bruce landed while Bucky furiously swung around his knife on an Outrider that had jumped him. T'Challa and Steve fought in the shallow river side by side. Rhodey gave air support but was knocked out from Cull Obsidian's harpoon-axe.

Clearly, the Outriders were beginning to massively outnumber the humans.

An Outrider grabbed T'Challa and threw him about like a rag doll. Shuri gasped slightly in surprised but T'Challa gave her a comforting squeeze.

Outriders overran Steve and jumped onto the Hulkbuster.

 _"There's too many of them!" Bruce called out._

"You're going to need something short of a miracle right about now," Tony mentioned.

"Why do I feel like that's going to happen right about… now," Steve said, half a second before the screen lit up with a blinding white light.

It spilt across the grassy plain and the Outriders next to it started burning up. The axe flew out cutting through and electrifying the Outriders as it circled around. Steve and Bruce who'd been knocked down, stood up and they all watched as the axe returned to Thor.

The people watching—everyone—just looked at the screen in complete shock, not knowing what to say. Some had slightly opened mouths while others had been so shocked they couldn't express it.

"Well. Ok then," Clint finally managed to get out. "Now there's no arguing over which one of us is the strongest."

Rocket jumped off Thor's shoulder clicking his gun. The onscreen-Avengers just looked in shock and thankfulness while the Wakandan soldiers took the moment to recover. The helmet of the Hulkbuster retracted and Bruce laughed.

 _"You guys are so screwed now!" He shouted._

"I have the slightest feeling we're missing something," Bruce said. "And I'd really like to know."

Thor nodded. "Same. But I think that would be in another movie."

Without them knowing, Peter and Shuri nodded in agreement.

A few snorted as it showed Proxima Midnight back away slightly.

Onscreen, Thor started to walk forward, slowly gaining speed. Stormbreaker was lit up and crackles of lightning danced across his armour.

 _"Bring me Thanos!" He shouted._

The three of them ran forward, bursts of lightning coming from Stormbreaker.

"I swear, if you do something cool Thor—"

The screen darkened as the blue lightning burst from in all directions from Thor. The three spies noticed his completely white-blue eyes. Thor slammed Stormbreaker into the ground, the built up electrical charge burst out and through the ground, frying every nearby Outrider.

"—I disregard my entire last statement," Clint said. "And Bruce is right. Thanos' minions and even Thanos himself are screwed."

"Speaking of which," Fury nodded towards the screen.

Thanos walked out from a portal and onto the surface of Titan.

"Oh great. How many Stones does he have so far?" Tony asked.

"Space, Power, Reality and Soul," Strange counted off. "Only two more to go…"

"Please, _please_ let that axe—Stormbreaker—be strong enough to kill him," Peter muttered loud enough for Tony and Bruce to hear.

Thanos walked forward a little, the panning of the camera making it seem as though no one else was there. So that's why Doctor Strange's voice gave them a little shock.

 _"Oh yeah. You're much more of Thanos," Strange said, sitting down somewhat casually._

Everyone turned to stare at the wizard in confusion.

"How are you so calm?" Fury asked, voicing the question on everyone's lips.

Strange just shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I'm just used to it."

No one bothered to ask another question or make a comment, preferring just to concentrate on the movie. The movie resumed.

 _"I take it the Maw is dead," Thanos stated, ignoring Strange. "This day extracts a heavy toll."_

The audience shifted uncomfortably.

 _"Still, he accomplished his mission," Thanos said, the camera lingering on the Eye of Agamotto._

 _"You may regret that. He brought you face-to-face with the Master of the Mystic Arts."_

Nobody picked up on the slightly deeper meaning. Rather, they took it at face value. As it showed Quill hiding between a rock and a rusted metal structure, a silent realization went through everyone. Spider-Man peaked over from the structure above Strange.

 _"And where do you think he brought you?"_

 _"Let me guess… Your home?" Strange said after thinking for a second._

Using the Reality Stone, a burning red line went across behind Thanos, revealing massive buildings, some in the sky. Curious as to what it would lead to, the people watching leaned forward a little.

 _"It was. And it was beautiful. Titan was like most planets," Thanos explained. "Too many mouths, not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution."_

 _"Genocide," Strange said._

Everyone's face darkened.

 _"But random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman."_

Just about everyone leaned back, some rubbing their eyes as they tried to understand what Thanos was saying. They knew he was crazy. They _knew_ that there would be another way. A way that didn't involve murdering—

 _"And what I predicted came to pass," Thanos finished, taking the illusion away as to prove his point._

And at that moment, no matter how much they hated Thanos, no matter what they thought, they realized that _Thanos has a point._ They would never admit it. But no matter what argument they thought of against him, they all knew deep down that _Thanos was right._ They glanced at each other, the looks on everyone's faces saying that they were all thinking the same thing.

 _"Congratulations, you're a prophet," Strange said sarcastically._

 _"I'm a survivor," Thanos reasoned._

 _"Who wants to murder trillions."_

 _To save the other half,_ some concluded, despair filling them. They refused to believe that Thanos would win but the nagging feeling didn't go away.

 _"With all six Stones," Thanos said, again ignoring Strange. ", I could simply snap my fingers. They would all cease to exist. I call that mercy."_

 _He's not right, he's not right, he's not right,_ the thoughts persisted. They didn't want to believe that this alien, who'd been a psycho throughout the entire movie, could actually be right.

"By why not just double the resources?" Shuri called out.

Bruce sighed. "The law of conservation states that matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Only transferred or transformed. And besides, if a sudden amount of new resources appeared, it could be equally destructive, if not more."

 _"And then what?" Strange asked as he got up and walked forward._

 _"I'd finally rest and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills."_

They all knew that. Every single one of them.

 _Strange created his shields. "I think you'll find our will, equal to yours."_

 _"Our?"_


	14. Chapter 14

Iron Man pushed down a giant structure, akin to a container, onto Thanos. As it landed on Thanos, a huge dust cloud erupted from the surface. Thinking it finished, Tony told Quill how easy it was. Quill responded, activating his helmet and taking off. When Thanos used various Infinity Stones to take the structure off him it struck Natasha that no one seemed surprised anymore.

The Reality Stone turned the structure into bats, chasing Tony away. Spider-Man swung in, shooting a web to Thanos's eye. Drax, from nowhere, swung one of his daggers at Thanos's leg. Strange came through a portal and conjured up an orange sword. Eventually, the titan grabbed the sword, pulled the webbing off his face and the sword was dispelled.

They watched on as the magic shields were used as temporary platforms for Quill to jump across, all while avoiding energy surges from the Power Stone. Quill attached a bomb to Thanos's back and flipped on off before jumping through a portal. A couple of people snorted at the slight ridiculousness.

 _Stephen whispered to his cloak. "Don't let him close his fist."_

The cloak went off and Peter frowned. "Why though?"

"Guessing that the Infinity Stones can't be used with an open one," Tony answered.

Stephen quickly opened a portal, allowing Spider-Man to jump through and punch Thanos before going through another. It was repeated twice and on the third time, Thanos grabbed him and slammed the teenager into the ground.

For no reason, Clint glanced over the row towards Tony and almost laughed as Tony and Peter both had a frown of disapproval.

Thanos threw Peter at Strange and proceeded to rip the Cloak of Levitation off the Gauntlet. Iron Man sent a barrage of explosives at Thanos, who caught the fire and redirected it at Tony. Peter swung in and caught the redirected blast, stopping it before Thanos threw him away again.

They were suddenly taken aback when a ship slammed into Thanos.

"Uh… what?" Peter voiced. A couple of seconds went by before Nebula leapt into the frame, an electrified baton in hand and a murderous look on her face. "Oh."

 _"Well, well," Thanos said._

 _"You should've killed me," Nebula warned._

 _"It would've been a waste of parts!"_

Shuri frowned, infuriated but confused. "How can he… What… I don't understand."

Nebula attacked Thanos, Natasha noting that the attacks were uneven and uncoordinated. She yelled at Thanos, asking where Gamora was but being knocked out of the way. Strange trapped one of Thanos' hands in the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak while Drax knocked him down to one leg. Quill used the same device he'd used earlier on Tony and Peter swung a web around the titan to hold him back. Tony went for the Gauntlet and started pulling it off.

"Tony," Clint said, turning to said person. Tony looked back at him. "I swear if you fuck this up…"

"Barton, when have I ever done so?" Everyone remembered what T'Challa and Shuri had about an hour earlier. "Right. Don't answer that. And that whole thing with Ultron technically hasn't happened yet, for us past people, I mean."

Tony kept pulling on the Gauntlet and Strange took away the Crimson Bands and opened a portal, allowing Mantis to drop down. Everyone pulled back while Mantis worked on subduing Thanos.

 _"Is he under? Don't let up," Tony said._

 _"Be quick. He is very strong," Mantis said._

 _In response, Tony called Peter over. "Parker, help! Get over here." The web-slinger did so. "She can't hold him much longer. Let's go."_

The two started pulling the Gauntlet off. The people watching practically stopped breathing in anticipation.

 _Quill flew over and attacked his gun to his side. "I thought you would be hard to catch. For the record, this was my plan."_

"Not now Quill, not now," Rocket mumbled. Quill just rolled his eyes.

 _"You're not so strong how, huh? Where is Gamora?"_

 _"My Gamora…" Thanos answered wearily._

"I agree, bullshit," Clint said.

 _Quill persisted. "Where is she?"_

 _"He is in anguish," Mantis said._

 _"Good."_

 _"He… He mourns."_

 _"What does this monster have to mourn?" Drax asked, his voice strained._

Everyone leaned forward a little, each knowing that something dramatic was about to happen. What it was going to be, they didn't know.

 _Nebula answered. "Gamora."_

 _Quill turned to her. "What?" Though he suspected he already knew._

 _"He took her to Vormir," Nebula explained. "He came back with the Soul Stone. But she didn't."_

The colour drained from Quill and T'Challa's face. Quill because he was feeling the exact same thing and T'Challa because he suddenly remembered what Steve had told him once in the plane, leaving the Serbian base. Evidently, Tony's movie-counterpart also knew what was about to happen.

 _"Ok, Quill, you gotta cool it right now. You understand? Don't, don't. Don't engage. We almost got this off!"_

Quill buried his face into his hands, not wanting to see the reaction.

 _Quill ignored Tony. "Tell me she's lying. Asshole, tell me you didn't do it!"_

 _"I had to…"_

 _"No, you didn't. No, you didn't."_

Natasha also looked away, reminded of the emotion behind the pleas. The begging of mercy that would never go away.

And without another word, Quill threw his gun, firmly grasped in his hand, in a sudden fit of rage. The audience looked on, feeling as hopeless as ever as they watched the control over Thanos quickly begin to slip. Tony pulled away from the Gauntlet and pulling Quill away from Thanos.

Despite their hopelessness, the people watching still hoped the Gauntlet would come off. But as it was at Thanos' fingertips, he regained consciousness, pulling it back on and everyone off him. Quill, Drax and Nebula, who'd been bowled into the same area, ran towards him but a beam from the Power Stone immediately stopped them.

Tony flew at Thanos with a weapon, only to be headbutted away. Thanos looked up, and a moon close to the planet hung. A gasp echoed through the theatre.

"Oh my God… He isn't going to…?" Peter watched with wide eyes.

They watched in shock as the Space and Power Stones were used. They broke the moon apart and were sent hurtling towards the planet's surface.

"Oh shit," Tony muttered as he watched himself dodge the massive rocks.

The movie then cut to Vision in Wakanda. Shuri worked as quickly as she could, removing a part every second.

Peter had a sudden thought that the longer he thought about it, the more it seemed true. But he lost focus on the movie so he quickly dismissed the thought. _It'll be fine. There's enough time,_ he thought, though the nagging feeling dismissed it.

Outside on the battlefield, Cull Obsidian used his axe to knock down some soldiers before T'Challa stopped that. Rocket moved around in a circle, gun blasting in all directions.

 _"Come and get some, space dogs!" Rocket shouted._

Bucky noticed some Outriders coming forward, so he quickly ran up to Rocket, picking up and they both shot while going in a circle. They finished and Rocket jumped down.

 _"How much for the gun?"_

 _"Not for sale," Bucky answered, lifting it up to his eye before pulling away._

 _"Ok, how much for the arm?"_

Bucky just walked away. Steve couldn't help the smirk on his face. _Typical Bucky,_ he thought. Meanwhile, Rocket just frowned, agreeing with his movie-counterpart as it said that he'd get the arm.

With Stormbreaker, Thor tore the Outriders apart. When they ceased for a moment, Steve turned to Thor, out of breath. They greeted each other before Thor turned to Groot.

 _"By the way, this is a friend of mine, Tree," he introduced._

 _Groot lifted three Outriders with his arm. "I am Groot!"_

 _Somewhat confused, Steve replied. "I am Steve Rogers."_

Thor and Rocket let out a bit of laughter and everyone turned to them. They were curious as to why they were smiling but decided to let it go.

It then briefly cut to Shuri and then Wanda, who'd both heard a distant rumbling. The Scarlet Witch walked over to one of the workshop's windows and they all watched as giant, wheel-like drills tore up the ground from underneath the forcefield. T'Challa ordered for everyone to fall back as the wheels broke apart.

 _And… No one's surprised. I can't believe we've been shown so much stuff in this one movie that we're not even fazed anymore,_ Natasha thought.

Wanda looked out the window then turned her head in thought. It then cut to Rhodey telling Sam to focus his fire on the left flank of one of the wheels. While they diverted one, others made their way through and over to where Okoye and Black Widow were. They ducked as they got closer and the heart rates of those watching grew for a second but they needn't worry as Wanda came down.

"What's she doing—" Tony started.

Eyes glowing red, Wanda used her telekinesis to lift the wheels into the air and over to a group of Outriders. She threw them down with all her strength.

 _Okoye twirled her spear around. "Why was she up there all this time?"_

Tony frowned, internally screaming at Wanda to go back Vision. Actually, it was more than just Tony. But they all thought it when Proxima Midnight turned and spoke into her wrist communication.

 _"She's on the field. Take it."_

* * *

 _A/N: *Whispers* Pretend this and the last chapter was posted yesterday. I ran out of time while editing.  
What's this? Two chapters I actually like? Maybe I should cram writing two chapters in a day more often... To be fair, I'm not that happy with the moon throwing and Thor's entrance reactions, so if you have any ideas of what I could add, let me know :)_

 _Reading over what some of you have said made me realize that I probably should have gone with my Age of Ultron reaction-fic instead. I have a few one-shot ideas that I may work that idea into. But I'm still debating whether or not I should write those. And about this one, I'm predicting about 3-4 more chapters until the end, plus the conclusion chapter. I was thinking of doing a bonus chapter with one other (short) bit but I don't know how polls on here work._

 _Honestly can't quite believe that Captain Marvel comes out this week which means just under a month before Endgame is released. Time flies by quickly I guess._

 _Guest review responses:_

 _(1) Guest: Aw :) Honestly, sometimes it's hard to tell if I'm getting the emotions/thoughts across, so thanks!_

 _(2) Guest: Again, thank you. I watched to the end after writing this chapter and couldn't help but think of what exactly would be written for the Snap._

 _(3) Guest: Hope you also enjoy this chapter._

 _Yuliheth: ¡Gracias! (No sé si algo de esto está bien, así que perdón si_ _está mal...)_

 _Solar: Thank you._

 _Anonymous: Glad you like it!_

 _(4) Guest: I going to respond to the first bit soon and I'm in a bit of a rush. But about me only accepting praise... how are you supposed to know how I react to people saying "I think you could work on this" if no one's given me something like that? I know that it is easier to give praise and I honestly find some of it (eg, people saying they like how I incorporate the feelings and emotions) to be helpful since when I'm editing, I don't know if people will find it OOC or understand what emotion I'm trying to get across.  
Right, back to that first part. For some reason, it feels as though you have no trouble turning around and calling me a coward, then you describe someone else–someone who you don't even know how or what exactly_ _–_ _they write as an uncreative imbecile. There are many OC-insert fanfics on this site alone, so why don't you go tell that to all those writers?  
And finally, you do know you could've just asked for me to edit what I said or elaborate on what I mean instead of, ahem, "pulling a rant"._


	15. Chapter 15

The moment Proxima Midnight had said that the people watching either groaned or rubbed their temples in annoyance.

"She spent all that time not wanting to blow the android up, then is ready to destroy the Stone and _now_ she thinks a good idea to join them in battle?" Fury mumbled.

Through the shadows of Shuri's lab, Corvus Glaive attacked the guard outside. A Dora Milaje warrior ran to help while Shuri started working quicker on detaching the Mind Stone.

 _She's not going to finish it,_ Peter thought.

Meanwhile, on the row behind him, Shuri looked at the floor, a little shameful, in that she'd failed. She reminded herself about the program she would create once she got back. She _would not fail_.

Onscreen-Shuri used her panther gauntlets and with the Dora Mileage warrior, attempted to slow Corvus Glaive down. A couple flinched as they were both thrown onto the lower floor of the workshop. The alien jumped to Vision's table, only to have the android throw him out the window. The audience watched as the two fell into a forest below.

Sam told the others what was happening to Vision before he got knocked out of the air by an Outrider.

" _Somebody get to Vision!" Steve hurriedly ordered before going back to the fight._

" _I got him!" Bruce said._

" _On my way," Wanda said, not a moment later._

Not expecting Proxima Midnight to be there, the people watching jumped back a tiny bit. Proxima turned Wanda over to face her.

" _He'll die alone. As will you," she threatened._

"I, for one," Shuri said, a deep-set frown on her forehead. ", hope that it's the other way round."

 _Behind Proxima, Black Widow spoke. "She's not alone."_

Shuri unclenched her fists when it showed that Okoye opposite Natasha. She hadn't even realised they'd been clenched in the first place.

Okoye gave a small nod to Natasha and they both went to attack Proxima Midnight, using the small trench to their advantage.

The movie then cut to Vision and Corvus Glaive in the forest. Cull Obsidian came from nowhere, knocking Vision away.

Tony looked towards the bottom of the screen and sighed. "I doubt he'll die, but it's two against one."

A second passed and Peter spoke up. "Now it's equal."

 _Bruce landed the Hulkbuster and held the hands up in a defensive manner. "Oh, no, you don't. This isn't gonna be like New York pal. This suit's already kicked the crap outta the Hulk."_

The Avengers either frowned or scrunched up their face.

"Do… Do we want to know?" Steve asked, turning to the future people behind him.

Very quickly, Stephen, Peter, Shuri and T'Challa shook their heads.

"Ok…" Steve said. He and the other Avengers turned back to the movie screen.

Onscreen, Cull Obsidian wrapped his harpoon around the wrist of the Hulkbuster. Thinking quickly, Bruce activated the thruster and they both roughly landed in a clearing.

" _Guys! Vision needs backup, now!" Bruce said. Cull Obsidian and Bruce fought, and Bruce tried to get to Hulk. "Hulk? Hulk, I know you like making your entrance at the last second. Well, this is it, man. This is the last, last second." The arm of the Hulkbuster got torn off. "Hulk! Hulk! Hulk!"_

Viewer-Bruce just shook his head. While Hulk's did appear—albeit brief and only his head—Bruce couldn't understand. And it wasn't like the Other Guy had said anything during the entire movie, so there's that. After that wondering thought went by, Bruce didn't concentrate on the movie for a couple of seconds. He decided to ignore it and think about it later.

Onscreen-Bruce went to punch Cull Obsidian, successfully landing a few punches. Before having the arm caught. Cull punched him backwards, and Bruce landed next to the torn off arm. Cull went to attack, but Bruce attached the arm to him and activated it.

" _See ya!"_

Tony shook his head. "You know, I can't even be mad at you."

"You break your suits all the time," Fury said. "Do you know how annoying it is to have to send agents to help clear them up?"

"This is different," Tony grumbled.

Cull Obsidian ran along the edge of the dome before exploding into a fiery ball.

"Ouch," Peter muttered.

" _Hulk, we got a lot to figure out, pal," Bruce said, looking up and breathless._

 _You don't say…_ Bruce thought, shaking his head ever so slightly.

It cut to Black Widow and Okoye fighting Proxima Midnight before it cut to Vision being held up by Corvus Glaive.

" _I thought you were formidable, machine," he said._

"Since I create him, should I take that as a compliment?" Tony asked, not wanting a response.

"No," Rocket answered.

" _But you're dying, like any man," Corvus Glaive finished, pulling his glaive out of Vision._

Out of nowhere, Steve ran in, knocking the tall alien away from Vision. He told him to get out while he started to fight Corvus.

It then cut back to Black Widow and Okoye. The former got knocked and Proxima Midnight jumped at her. A long knife appeared next to Natasha's throat and started pressing in, but Natasha held it off. All of a sudden, Wanda snared the alien in her telekinesis and threw her into a passing wheel-drill. Blue blood splattered out.

Peter pulled a face. "Disgusting."

It cut, again, back to Corvus Glaive and Steve. The glaive got knocked away and Steve was thrown to the ground. Corvus started chocking the Captain but then his glaive appeared through his chest. It was revealed to be Vision.

Shuri whispered a silent "Yes!".

Vision flickered and fell down, but Steve caught him and picked him up.

" _I thought I told you to go," Steve said._

" _We don't trade lives, Captain."_

Steve shifted as his words from earlier came back. It _was_ true but…

 _That's a little contradictory, isn't it?_ A voice inside Steve's head asked.

The next shot showed ruins in the air and smoky trails on Titan.

"And we're back here…" a couple of people mumbled.

Spider-Man swung through the chaos, grabbing hold of the stray Guardians as quickly as he could. It then showed Thanos getting up from behind some debris and Stephen walking forward. He created a spell which wove towards Thanos, who jumped away. Thanos sent a blast from the Power Stone, which Dr Strange blocked and turned into the mirror dimension. Thanos then punched the mirror dimension with the Power Stone and used the Space Stone to turn it into a black hole and towards Strange.

"Did… Did you just…" Tony whipped his head to Strange as everyone just looked in shock. "Did you just turn a _black hole_ into a bunch of _butterflies_?"

"Yes…?" Stephen answered.

Tony turned back to the screen just as Strange multiplied himself and the duplicates moving off to surround Thanos. They all trapped him within orange strings of magic.

"Why didn't… Why wouldn't you have done something like that while they were trying to get the gauntlet off?" Natasha questioned.

"Yeah… It does seem to be fairly effective," Fury said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Stephen thought for second before answering. "It'd probably end up being too complicated."

"And also there's that one in fourteen million chance which you saw so…" Peter's voice trailed off, reminding everyone. They all nodded in silent agreement and resumed the movie.

Thanos struggled against the magic but managed to activate the Power and Soul Stones. The dispersed all the copies and forced Strange back, knocking him into his astral form for a second.

Natasha looked at the screen, then turned and peered at Strange for a second before looking back. Stephen, however, frowned and started wondering how Thanos did that (it happened so fast that the wizard hadn't seen the Soul Stone light up).

The ground rushes, Thanos catches Dr Strange in a chokehold and speaks to him.

" _You're full of tricks, wizard. Yet you never once used your greatest weapon,"_

Everyone present took in a quick, sharp breath when the Eye of Agamotto was torn off and crushed. But when the shards fell and no Time Stone in the titan's palm, they all looked at the screen in confusion.

" _A fake," Thanos said, the slightest hint of disappointment in his voice._

Stephen was tossed aside and Thanos was about to do something (they don't know and don't want to think about it), but he's interrupted by something of Tony's. The Iron Man suit soon follows.

" _You throw another moon at me, and I'm gonna lose it."_

They all turn towards the genius who tries to look impassive.

"Let me get this straight," Clint started. "You want to fight, head to head, our greatest adversary… and you don't even seem a _little_ worried?"

Tony didn't say anything. Instead, he looked at the paused screen, his fingers on his face, thinking. Everything about the movie hadn't fully hit him until that moment. It'd all been leading to this. Going through that portal, his nightmares, the supposed Ultron program… All leading to this.

* * *

 _A/N: Yes, in case you are wondering, it really did take a month to write the ending of this chapter. Why? Being sick, a bunch of school stuff but mostly procrastination. I do want to get this finished before Endgame comes out which is really close—Talking of which, that poll I mentioned in the last AN? Yep, that's up, so if you would like to vote, go do that because I'll take it down after the Snap chapter. Which is the next chapter. (With my recent track record, who knows when that'll be. Hopefully this weekend.)  
_

 _Guest review responses:_

 _(1) Guest: Thank you! My main motivation for finishing is so that there is at least one completed fanfic._

 _(2) Guest: Didn't really want to write that because I didn't really know how to do it (honestly, I don't remember why)._

 _Solar:_ _Я не могу ждать, чтобы написать их! (Извините, если это не имеет смысла, я использовал Google Translate.)_

 _(3) Guest: (I'm just going to take a guess and say that you made two separate views because of how close I got the notification.) First, my profile bio is just something I thought was funny and also held some weight to it. Sorry. Second, I'm willing to bet that 99% of people who are reading this fanfic have already watched Infinity War and most_ _—but probably not all_ _—have bought the movie. And have you ever considered that people will skip over the movie bits and just read the reactions? And 90% of this chapter had already been written when I got your review and I didn't want to change it. I'll try the vague mentions of the movie in the next chapter._

 _(4) Guest: I don't want to repeat what I've already said... and somehow that's proving the point of one being right and the other being wrong. Ok, got it. Next, I'm fairly certain I've said this before, but I reply to my guests like this because I don't want to be seen as boosting the numbers of reviews on my story. It may not matter, but this has just been the most common way I've seen people respond to guests. Third, I've deleted the original version of this. I don't actually remember my reasoning for keeping it._

 _Those guests asking for a new chapter: Here you go :)_


	16. Chapter 16

_"Stark," Thanos said._

This caused everyone watching to frown in confusion.

 _"_ How does he know you?" Fury asked, quiet enough so no one could hear.

 _"You know me?" Tony asked at the same time._

 _"I do. You're not the only one cursed with knowledge."_

Chills shivered down each person as they held their breath in anticipation. A wavering thought passed through Thor's mind which he spoke aloud. But, like Fury, too quiet for anyone to hear.

"He's not wrong."*

 _"My only curse is you," Tony said, before launching his attack._

The audience watched on in fear (and some admiration) as the fight went on. Onscreen-Tony launched mini-missiles at the Titan, but before Thanos could regain his bearing, Tony smacked into his face at a frightening speed.

"Jesus…" Clint murmured as the Titan relentlessly tore off the Iron Man helmet.

Before the follow-up punch could hit him, Tony's suit materialised a new helmet. This didn't stop him from falling away some feet. Without stopping, Thanos ripped the contraption on the palm of the Gauntlet off and didn't hesitate to fire the Power Stone at Tony.

Tony was quick enough to create a shield the blocked the blast. This didn't go over the audience's head.

"Isn't that the same Stone that blew up Thor's ship from earlier?" Shuri asked in awe.

"Yeah…" Stephen said. "So unless Thanos isn't using the full power of the Power Stone…" His voice trailed off.

In seconds, Onscreen-Tony took the shield down and had trapped the Titan long enough to land a punch on Thanos' face. No one could help the surprised gasp when Thanos turned to the screen.

 _"All that for a drop of blood," Thanos said, wiping off._

The people watching were speechless. No one said anything as they tried to process it. Out of everyone, they all expected either Dr Strange or Gamora would be the ones to wound Thanos in some way (easily Quill as well, had he thought his actions out a little more). But it was _Tony Stark_ who had done it. Albeit only being like a papercut.

"Holy fuck," Clint and Tony said at the same time.

However, the shock wore off almost immediately when Thanos grinned and threw Tony forward. Punch after punch and they all knew that the fight was drawing to a bloody end. But if there was something they all knew; it was that Tony never went down without a fight. Something that Steve admired, even if he did think things usually ended up worse.

Thanos had punched Tony away with the aid of one of the Infinity Stones. He walked forward and blocked the laser beam Tony sent. The audience watched in growing dread as Tony started shifting all the suit's power to the lasers. They flinched as Tony's helmet, which had been broken in half, got knocked away completely. Onscreen-Tony blocked each of the Titan's blows, just long enough for a blade to be made and shoved at Thanos…

… Silence took hold of each one's throats as the blade penetrated straight through Tony's body. Some let out the fearful breath they hadn't realised they were holding while others went rigid. None of them said anything as Thanos forced Tony to stumble backwards onto a heap of scrap metal. Viewer-Tony grit his teeth in frustration as the Mad Titan spoke.

 _"You have my respect, Stark. When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive."_

 _No, no, no_ , Peter thought, desperately not wanting Tony to die.

Natasha, opting not to give herself false hope, realised something that made her go through a quick recap of the movie. "Thanos only killed those who stood in his way…" she said, only just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Upon that fact, they couldn't help the heavy realisation that they'd lost. Something that no one wanted or bothered to acknowledge.

 _"I hope they remember you," Thanos said, aiming the Infinity Gauntlet with all the Stones lit up, at Tony._

They watched with the feeling of helplessness not quite there. Honestly, no one knew how they felt or what they thought. Only emptiness and dread.

 _"Stop."_

They were shocked out of it when Strange's voice came through the speakers. Subconsciously, they all leaned forward.

 _Stephen took a second to continue. "Spare his life… and I will give you the Stone."_

Of course, this erupted a series of anger and questions. Some, like Bruce, just shook their heads in puzzlement. Fury didn't quite know what to say.

"What the hell?!" Clint, Rocket and Quill.

"Are you insane?" Natasha yelled, turning around to face Strange despite knowing he would most likely not know the reasoning.

"How would giving up the Time Stone be of _any_ use?" Tony questioned.

Strange, however, just glared at his movie counterpart, not immediately understanding. He wondered how he could ever come to that conclusion. Only that it was part of the plan… but how?

They'd all barely calmed down when Shuri decided to resume the movie. Thanos asked if there would be any tricks, to which Stephen shook his head. Thanos turned, all Stones still lit up.

 _"Don't," Tony said, his voice firm but weak from his injury._

Strange ignored him, and they all watched in anger and despair as the Time Stone appeared between the wizard's fingers. The Time Stone made it's way to Thanos who looked at it for a second before attaching it to its slot in the Gauntlet. Most people missed the brief shot of Stephen's face, impassive, but looking almost calculating in a way. A small surge was released upon the Time Stone joining the Gauntlet, something that everyone noted though they didn't fully know what it could mean.

 _"One to go," Thanos said, looking down at the Stones._

Rocket sighed, nodding slightly. "Yep, we're doomed," he muttered.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Quill barraged the Titan with blasts from his gun, only for a portal to appear and the Titan to step through.

Tony ignored Quill's question and filled in the wound so it would stop bleeding. He then turned to Strange, exhausted, and asked the question everyone had.

 _"Why would you do that?"_

 _"We're in the endgame now," was the only answer given._

"That… that doesn't explain anything," Peter said, half pointing out and half to alleviate the depressive atmosphere that didn't go away.

The movie then cut to Wakanda, where the battle against the Outriders was still going on. Though everyone felt that it would soon be over. Wanda used her telekinesis to land in the forest next to Vision.

She asked how he was, only for a high-pitched ringing to come. Vision doubled over in pain as the Mind Stone glowed. Breathless, Vision gave the dreadful news.

 _"He's here._ "

The camera panned to each person's impassive expression as they tried to make sense of the sudden stillness and wind. The audience couldn't help but shake ever so slightly in fear as they all knew what was coming.

The portal opened and Thanos stepped through, Bruce confirming it.

Banner went first, the Space Stone being used to trap him in a rocky wall. Steve, Sam and T'Challa easily being tossed aside. Vision turned and addressed Wanda.

 _"Wanda. It's time."_

 _"No."_

 _"They can't stop him, Wanda, but we can. Look at me. You have the power to destroy the Stone."_

Wanda denied Vision again, her voice shaking. The people watching recalled back to earlier in the movie when they discussed blowing up the Stone. And their fears had been correct.

 _"You must do it. Wanda, please. We are out of time."_

Wanda continued to deny that she couldn't. Vision then forced her hand into position, explaining the consequences of Thanos getting the Stone.

 _"It's alright. You could never hurt me. I just feel you," Vision said, recalling back to earlier._

Everyone watched, helpless. They watched as Wanda slowly destroyed the gem while everyone else uselessly tried to stop Thanos. Knowing she wouldn't have time, Wanda painfully started using her other hand, the beams of light slowly destroying the Stone. No one said anything as Steve, in a desperate attempt to slow the Mad Titan down, held the Gauntlet in place. However, they were still shocked at it, however pointless it may be. Even Thanos seemed to be somewhat impressed.

As Thanos got closer, Wanda sending one hand to hold off the Titan. Vision said something no one could hear. Wavered breaths of fear mixed with relief escaped everyone when the Mind Stone finally blew up. However, they were confused as Thanos walked forward, looking more or less unfazed.

 _"I understand, my child. Better than anyone," Thanos said._

 _"You could never," Wanda spoke back, defiant._

Most nodded in agreement. Thanos placed his hand on Wanda's head, in _some sick comfort_ ing (Clint thought) way.

 _"Today, I lost more than you can know. But now is no time to mourn. Now is no time at all," Thanos said, walking forward._

Before the action could be done, Strange realised what was about to happen. Sure enough, Thanos reversed time. Wanda ran forward, only to be knocked away.

Mouths agape, horrified by the sudden turn of events, the audience watched as the Mind Stone was plucked out of Vision's forehead with little to no resistance.

"No…" Some couldn't help but murmur in disbelief as the Mind Stone was added to the Gauntlet.

"I don't believe it…" Bruce mumbled.

Suddenly, a burst of lightning came from nowhere. Thor threw Stormbreaker at Thanos, who used the Infinity Stones to slow it down (Tony, Bruce and Shuri being sure that not all the Stones' power was being used). In a blinding light, the axe finally penetrated the barrier and into Thanos' chest.

"Yes!" Shuri couldn't help herself. "That's what you get, you perpendicular grape in need of Chapstick and a heart!"

T'Challa just looked at her inquisitively. Meanwhile, everyone else were just relieved that Thor had managed to come through.

"Oh thank God…" Clint said. Half a second passed before he smirked, realising what he'd said.

 _"I told you… you'd die for that," Thor reminded Thanos, pushing Stormbreaker deeper in._

 _A few seconds went by before Thanos weakly spoke. "You should have… You should… You should have gone for the head."_

Everyone yelled "No!" but regardless, Thanos still snapped his fingers.

* * *

 _A/N: *Laughs maniacally* No, I'm not sorry for ending the chapter there. Don't worry, all the reactions to the Snap will be in the next chapter :) Meanwhile, I both like and don't like this chapter. There's stuff I wanted to put in but I couldn't think of how to put it into words but this is one of my favourite chapters so far. And there's only one week until Endgame (which I'm ready and not ready for at the same time). I'm planning that the last chapter will either be uploaded the day I see it or the day after. And Shuri describing Thanos as a perpendicular grape? I was reading Thanos' Wikia a few months ago and found that and have been looking for an excuse to use it ever since. Finally, thank you to all those who have followed, favourited and/or reviewed :)  
_

 _Guest review responses:_

 _yassssssss: I tried to do that, but as I said, I couldn't think of how to put it into words. And I don't mind people freaking out over characters so long as it doesn't get creepy or intense :)_

 _All the guests that asked for an update: Volià!_

 _*This is based off the last line Thor says in Age of Ultron "Besides this one [Tony], there's nothing that can't be explained". It could have just meant to be a fun line but eh, I like to think that there's more to it._


	17. Chapter 17

Silence rocked the small theatre room, all too stunned at what they'd just witnessed. Thanos' fingers had snapped, and though they all knew what would soon entail, no one could process it. Though this shock was quickly changed to mild confusion once the stark white screen instantly changed to an orange world. Thanos looked up, his arm up, but no Gauntlet.

"Uh… what?" Clint asked expressing everyone's confusion.

Thanos appeared to be somewhat confused as well, turning around to face a structure with someone standing in the middle. The titan walked forward and everyone waited in bated silence.

 _Gamora?_ Quill thought, as the shot changed to show the figure.

" _Daughter?" Thanos asked. The figure turned around a second later, revealing that it was Gamora… but younger._

"Wh… Why is she younger? And where are they?" Shuri asked, her voice wavering a bit.

None of them knew that the Soul World existed, so no one was able to give a proper answer. However, Peter gave an answer regardless.

"Maybe it's the Stones' way of say "Are you sure you want to do this?"."

Thor and Strange just shrugged.

" _Did you do it?" Young-Gamora asked._

" _Yes."_

 _Gamora spoke, her voice sounding like she was doing her best not to cry. "What did it cost?"_

" _Everything," was all Thanos said._

"Well, there goes that theory…" Peter murmured.

"So… was it really worth it then?" Natasha asked, leaving everyone to ponder on the question for a short while before the movie changed to being back in the real world. A small gasp echoed around the theatre as it should the Infinity Gauntlet charred and smoking.

" _What did you do? What'd you do?" Thor demanded._

Thanos didn't answer as he abruptly left through a portal. Stormbreaker landed on the ground with a _thud_.

At this point, everyone had gone silent again with bated breaths. Steve asked where Thanos had gone, twice, but both times he didn't receive an answer. Until…

" _Steve?" Bucky asked, his voice uncertain._

Viewer-Steve just shook his head as the camera turned. It happened so fast, no one fully processed it. Bucky dropped his gun and fell to the ground with nothing but a pile of dust in his wake. Steve just kept shaking his head, not fully processing it.

"Wha… what?" He whispered, not wanting to come to terms with what he'd just witnessed. The fact that he learnt that Bucky was still still alive was enough to make his head spin. And now he was going to lose him _again_?

Onscreen-Steve just placed a hand on the dust, as if making sure it was fake.

They watched as the dusting went across the battlefield, every survivor looking around in confusion. It then changed to show Okoye and T'Challa telling her to get up.

" _Up General, up! This is no place to die," T'Challa says just before he to get turns to dust._

Unable to stop herself, Shuri gives out a small shriek, clutching her brother's arm and burying her face so she wouldn't have to watch. After everything, she couldn't lose him again.

It then showed Rocket moving to towards a fading Groot as Okoye could be heard shouting in the background. The racoon watching just looked at the screen in shock, Groot's last words playing over and over again and his mind just saying _"This isn't happening"_ just as many times.

It showed Wanda holding onto Vision's greyed body. As she disappeared, she looked up to the sky melancholy, giving everyone the impression that she was the only one _ok_ with what was happening. Sam disappeared a second later. The camera then lingered on Okoye's distraught face while Rhodey called out for Sam.

The movie then changed to Titan, where everyone was grouping together. The moment before she disappeared, Mantis tells everyone that _"Something's happening"_. The people watching realized that not only would they have no idea, but every other living creature. And that realization was chilling to the bone.

Drax faded away and soon did Quill. The one watching just froze, watching as his body faded in dust and then nothing. This was his _death_ he was watching and Quill couldn't wrap his head around it.

Then it came to Strange's. As they had throughout the whole scene, no one said anything as they were frozen to the very core that this had happened.

" _Tony," Strange called out. Said person turned to face the wizard. "There was no other way." And then he faded away._

 _No other way… What does that mean?_ Some thought, the only thing they'd been able to fully process.

A heavily weighted rock instantly dropped in Peter as his voice came over the speakers. Tony flinched, knowing that whatever happened in the future, this teenager was his responsibility but even then, he couldn't bear to watch the impending death.

" _Mr Stark? I don't feel so good," Peter said, stumbling forward. He didn't seem to hear Tony's reassurances. "I don't… I don't know what's happening. I don't know…" Peter clutched tightly onto Tony as if doing so would prevent his dusting. "I don't want to go. I don't want to go, sir. Please, I don't want to go. I don't want to go." As the last of him faded, Peter came to accept it and apologised, his voice soft._

And as the last of the ashes flew away in the wind, the Snap was complete, Nebula confirming it as she resigned to the reality of it all.

" _He did it."_

Those watching didn't say it, but they all knew they felt the same thing. As it showed the defeated looks of Nebula and Tony, the movie cut to Wakanda. The realization dawned on Steve as he stared out, him also realizing the same thing as the audience. They had _lost_. Even when the odds were against them in every way, the heroes always came out victorious. Watching themselves loose on an astronomically-large scale was… daunting and horrifying didn't even _begin_ to describe it.

The camera then changed, panning a little over a planet before cutting to show Thanos walking out of a hut. He sits down and looks over the land, gives a small and nods ever so slightly.

And then the screen cuts to black.

Names start to appear and flash by but everyone is too dumbfounded. Absolute silence as they watch unfamiliar names cross the screen. And without warning, Clint snaps.

"That's _it_?! That's fucking _it_?!"

"I agree with him, how the fuc—" Tony started but never finished.

"Didn't that person say that we were supposed to prevent this?" Fury interrupted.

"We lost!" Rocket said, throwing up his paws. "How does showing that we lost help us?"

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, trying to think of a plausible answer.

"By using what they," Steve turned, referring to the people from the future. ", know. We prevent that whole "civil war" and Ultron thing."

"Or we could just watch this," Peter pointed up to the screen. The credits ended with the title of the movie disappearing and Fury's voice coming over the speakers.

Whatever it was going be, everyone quietened down and paid attention to the screen again.

" _Still no work from Stark?" Fury asked._

" _No, not yet," Agent Hill replied. "We're watching every satellite on both hemispheres, but still nothing."_

They watched in interest, curious as to where this new scene would go. A faint beeping came from Maria's tablet, with Fury asking what it was.

" _Multiple bogeys over Wakanda," came the answer._

 _Thanos' ships_ , everyone realized. So this was _before_ the Snap.

Fury asked if it had the same energy signature as the Tesseract in New York, only for Maria to say that it was far larger. Whatever Fury was going to say, was never finished as a car skidded in front of the vehicle aptly crashing into the cars parked on the side of the road. The two spies got out and the relative silence of the streets caught everyone off guard.

"Oh… it's after the Snap," Peter mumbled as the movie showed that no one was in the car.

A helicopter spun out of control into a building. Fury started telling Agent Hill what to do, only to turn around and watch her dissolve into dust. The audience watched, their curiosity increasing as Fury ran back and picked something out of a bag. Viewer-Fury just nodded ever so slightly, automatically understanding.

Fury disappeared and dropped the pager that was in his hand. The camera zoomed in the few seconds before the screen cut to black again, a blue and red pattern with an eight-pointed star insignia appeared.

A few seconds went by and everyone turned to Fury.

"Uh, what did you just do?" Tony asked.

"I sent a message out to someone."

"Who?" Natasha asked, not recognising the insignia.

"Carol Danvers. If there's one thing I know for sure, she'll be a huge help in stopping Thanos."

Without warning, again, the screen lit up and music started playing through the speakers. Confused, everyone turned back to the screen as it showed a broken Iron Man helmet.

"Ok then… What's this then?" Shuri asked, not expecting an answer.

Onscreen, Tony turned the helmet on, a blue light emitting from it and he began speaking. No one said anything as the trailer continued, most just confused as to what it was supposed to be showing them. A few comments passed but it was safe to say that by the end, everyone was thoroughly confused.

"Uh, what?" Thor asked, as soon as the trailer ended.

"I think whatever our kidnapper was trying to show us got mixed up with something else," Shuri said.

"But is that it?" Quill asked.

" _Yes, it is!"_ The strange voice from the start said over the speakers. _"Sorry that that trailer didn't really explain much, but now that you know what's coming, it's time for you to leave and make sure it does not happen at all costs. Got it?"_

But before anyone could give an answer, they were all knocked out, ready to be returned to their rightful places in the timeline.

* * *

 _A/N: So, anyone want to join me in the No-Spoilers Bunker? Every time I remember that I'm going to be watching Endgame in less than 24 hours, it freaks me out because it's finally here.  
Meanwhile, about the chapter, I personally think it's ok, not great. To be completely honest, throughout writing this whole fanfic, I have had no idea what to put for Peter's death, partly considering everyone is kind of like "well... we're watching the death of a teenager we've only known for two hours. Oof.". I may edit this chapter at some point and expand the reactions for the post-credits scene and trailer. The final chapter will either be tomorrow or (more likely) Thursday. Thanks to everyone that's followed, favourited and/or reviewed!_

 _Guest review responses:_

 _Shiranai Atsune: Nope, the final chapter is the next one._

 _(1) Guest: I'll say this again, to not only you but to everyone: I'm REALLY sorry if Peter's death didn't live up to what you expected. I've had a complete writer's block for it ever since I started._

 _(2) Guest: I could have them react to Wonder Woman but I personally think it would be more fun (to write at least) if it was some sort of crossover. (Great. Now I've got ideas for it :) )_

 _(3) Guest: I thought of having a "React to Endgame" but decided not to 1) Because I don't really want to do another reaction-fic and 2) All things considered, I can't really think of anything I put. Then again, I don't know what happens in the movie so..._


	18. The End?

There was a sudden burst of light, not unlike the one that had appeared only moments before. Strange stumbled forward, gathering his bearings before realizing where he was. Instead of a darkened cinema, he was standing in the New York Sanctum.

That begged the question: Had he just dreamt the last two and a half hours, or not?

Something told the Sorcerer that it had, in fact, been real and not a dream. Though that didn't explain why, at this moment in time, the Avengers team was still broken up and…

"Of course," Strange sighed. "Of course they would have forgotten."

"Who would have forgotten what?" Wong's voice called out from behind.

"Nothing and no one," Strange mumbled before heading through the Sanctum.

Eventually, he came to the room he was looking for. Slipping the Eye of Agamotto around his neck, Strange took up a familiar position, green wisps of magic floating around him.

He only ever planned to look forward far enough to know if the future he'd just watched actually happened or not. Sure enough, it didn't take long for him to start finding potential timelines where the movie had started and as he looked further, the more and more it seemed that this future was… inevitable.

Granted, changes could always be made which then created more timelines. That person had brought them together to change their future, right?

Strange cut the spell, satisfied (in a way) of what he'd just done. All he needed to now, was wait.

* * *

 _A/N: Uh, it's technically Thursday so... close enough? Anyway, so I like to keep my Author's Notes semi-professional but  
_ _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'M STILL NOT OVER ENDGAME! Seriously, it's like that one episode of a TV show that you keep wanting to rewatch and it never gets old. So many ideas yet so long until it's out on DVD. Though something I still can't get over, is the fact that it made $1 Billion+ in its **opening weekend**. And as a fan of those character edits on YouTube... Let's just say I've had to force myself not to cry during the Infinity War edits.  
S_ _o about this lacklustre chapter, guess what? I was replying to a review regarding a potential sequel and I got the idea for one. Haven't planned it except for a few things so don't expect it anytime soon. I do want to keep it short though since I'm not familiar with writing AUs. And if you what a different trailer reaction, check back in a few days because I'll have hopefully written it by then. Of course, I have to go back and (slowly) edit this fanfic but as of now... It is finished._

 _Guest review responses:_

 _(1 and 2) Guest: Well, there's a sequel coming at some point :D_

 _(3) Guest: Ah! Crossover ideas! I have an idea similar to "Watch the movie" but more along the lines of characters from the different franchises interacting with the story/stories. But now I've got, like, a "Wonder Woman in the MCU" trilogy planned in my head. It may end up being my next fanfiction project..._

 _(3) Guest: As I said, I still need to edit this. Part of the edit will be movie parts that are kind of pointless._

 _Erynea: Honestly, whenever I read your review, I always feel like printing it off and framing it. In other words: I'm so glad you've enjoyed this fanfic! And I hope you enjoyed Endgame (same with everyone actually)._

 _Yowzers: *Remembers Endgame* *Tries not to cry* *Cries a lot*_

 _Shiranai Atsune: As I said, the trailer reaction in the last chapter will be changed (to the Special Look trailer because that is the far superior trailer in my opinion)._

 _PikaMew1288: I don't really want to do another reaction-fic (I'll elaborate in the next response) and considering how many movies and TV episodes, I'm pretty sure I would lose interest in the story. But like I've said, ideas are coming for the sequel and the last part I can definitely see myself writing an AU based off it but I'm not the best with those. Or maybe not an AU. I'll keep it in mind though._

 _(4) Guest: Since I watched Endgame, I've been thinking of an Endgame reaction-fic that's either half crack, half serious or a completely crack-fic based on one particular moment._

 _Anyway, so... that's it. Again, thank you to all those who have followed, favourited and/or reviewed! Since Ver 1, I do think my writing has improved somewhat and I really can't thank you all enough :) And until next time, bye! (Pft, this AN is longer than the actual chapter XD)_


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